Sly and the Pure Magic Gems
by Assistant
Summary: After the events of Sly3, Sly Cooper really lost his memories. He has now spent a year as Constable Cooper, and he and Carmelita are now dating. But, what happens when a stranger comes seeking the theif, and Sly has to remeber his past.
1. A Year of Paradise

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters I have inserted into the story and the other elements that are the creations of my imagination._

Sly and the Pure Magic Gems

Chapter 1

A Year of Paradise

It has been a year since the events of Sly3, & Constable Sly Cooper, the thief turn cop, was in paradise. His memory had not yet returned from when he fought Dr. M and had the Cooper Vault come crashing down around him. For the first few weeks he desperately wanted to remember something, anything about his past, but all that he could remember was two names, Bentley and Murray. Other then that his past was a blank. Soon though, he found himself thinking less and less about his past, and more about his partner, Inspector Carmelita Fox. She had been there during the first few weeks after Sly had lost his memory and helped him believe he was a cop, and her partner in the fight against crime. He wanted to believe her, but something in the back of his mind was contradicting what she said, and Sly couldn't tell what.

After being partners for about 6 months, or 5 years and 6 months according to what Carmelita had told Sly, Sly got up the nerve to ask Carmelita out on a date, and the rest was history. The whole department knew that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, and many were making bets on how long it would be before Sly proposed to Carmelita. Some were guessing in a few days, while others thought it would be some time next year. Sly and Carmelita never really took notice of this because they were too wrapped up in their job, or in enjoying each others company. That's where are story begins.

Sly and Carmelita were working late on their most recent case. It was a on a guy name Bill "Blood Lust" Marauder, and he was supposedly printing a large amount of counterfeit money. They had spent the last week on the case with no new breaks until that morning when someone called into the Interpol and reported seeing some strange stuff going on in a warehouse outside of Paris. Carmelita and Sly had a warrant and were down there by lunch, and had the whole gang, including Blood Lust, in custody by 1:00. They were now doing the final touches on their reports since the case was now someone else's problem.

Carmelita had just finished the last bit of her report, and was placing it in the filing cabinet when she said, "Hey, Constable Cooper, you almost done."

Sly stood up with report in hand and said, "Here is the last report Carmelita."

Carmelita took the report from Sly and then gave him a weak glare as she said, "I told you that it's Inspector Fox while we are on duty."

Sly sighed and said, "It just so hard not to use your true name Inspector Fox, it is such a beautiful name after all."

Carmelita blushed slightly and said, "Now flattery will get you no where Sly."

Sly eyed Carmelita a second and said, "I don't call it flattery when I am telling the truth, and why did you just break you own rule and call me by my first name."

Carmelita smiled and said, "Because we are no longer on duty, with these reports finished the chief said we could take a tomorrow off and relax. It's a reward for getting this case open and shut so quickly."

Sly smiled and said, "That's great. So, you feel like doing anything tomorrow? Maybe grab us some lunch and then go for a walk in the park near your apartment."

Carmelita smiled and said, "That would be lovely, I'll be at your place at 11:30 then, does that sound good."

Sly nodded his head and said, "You bet it does, spending time with you always does."

Carmelita and Sly left the office as Carmelita said; "Now I told you to cut the flirty chit-chat."

Sly suddenly got the feeling of De-Javu, like he had heard Carmelita say to cut the flirty chit-chat somewhere before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. After saying good night to Carmelita and Sly walked the 6-blocks to his apartment. He arrived at his front door still pondering why he had got the strange feeling of De-Javu. He then decided it was nothing and went inside his apartment. It was a simple apartment, perfect for a bachelor, but he still felt the place was missing something he could never quite name. He pushed the thought aside and sat down on his couch. He flipped the TV on and after flipping through a few channels saw that one of the channels had a stock van race on it.

Not having anything better to watch Sly decided to watch the race, for some reason he kept rooting for the blue van with flames and a raccoon head on the side. For some reason he felt that it should be the van to win. It was a close race, the final lap the blue van was neck & neck with another van, but at the last moment the blue van pulled ahead and won the race. Sly felt his heart lift a little as the reporter ran up to the purple hippo that was driving the van. The reporter smiled to the camera a second and then said, 'Well, how does it feel to have won your 6th race in the row when you have only been in the professional league for only 6 months?"

The hippo smiled and said, "It feels great, I couldn't have done it without my van, a vehicle I got from a good friend a long time ago."

The reporter went off camera for a second and then, looking a little embarrassed, asked, "I am terribly sorry, but I don't know your name."

The hippo smiled and replied, "I'm called "The Murray"".

Sly's jaw dropped when he heard the driver's name. Murray, that name just bounced back and forth through Sly's skull as he tried to make logic of the situation. The drivers name was Murray, and one of the two things he could remember before the accident happened was that name, Murray. He wondered to himself, "_Could I have known this guy before the accident. I couldn't know him as a race car driver because the reporter said he had only been in the professional league for about 6 months."_ Sly could only conclude that he must have known the guy from before he had lost his memory and that if he wanted to learn about his past, he would have to ask him about it.

Now that the race was over Sly flipped through the channels again, but after seeing that nothing was on he turned the TV off and decided to hit the hay early. As he dreamed he saw himself in a dark cave filled with piles of gold. As he ran through the difficult obstacles of the cave he stopped by the portraits of different raccoons, and felt as if he should know them. When he finally reached the end of the cave he was standing by a portrait that had been broken in half, and it was of a guy raccoon bouncing a younger raccoon on his knee.

He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt extremely sad, as if his heart ached at the fact he couldn't remember who the guy was. He then saw a set of lasers turn on, and against his better judgment he jump onto the laser and slid across the dark abyss below him, but half way across the laser shut off and he fell down into the darkness.

Sly's eyes flew open to the sound of his alarm clock and he scrambled to turn it off. He slowly got out of bed and began to rub his head wondering, "Why do I keep having that dream. Is it trying to tell my something, or is it something from my past trying to resurface."


	2. Eclipse

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters I have inserted into the story and the other elements that are the creations of my imagination._

Chapter 2

Eclipse

Sly was up and dressed in thirty minutes. He was wearing a plane pair of dark blue jeans, a blue shirt, and pair of old shoes that were on of the few things he knew came from his past. He met Carmelita in front of his apartment at around 11:30. They ate lunch together and then enjoyed the whole afternoon in the park, doing what ever struck their fancy. It was about 5:00 when Sly and Carmelita decided to go catch a movie, and by the time they left the movie theater it was dark out. As they walked the few blocks to Carmelita's car Sly said, "So, did you like the movie?"

Carmelita nodded and said, "I'm not usually into horrors, but when they make one about that old bird Clockwerk it has to be interesting."

Sly nodded his head, though during the whole thing he had the nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that told him he had been the one that defeat Clockwerk, but he just brushed it off as he and Carmelita neared her car. Carmelita was about to put the keys in the door when a shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere, grabbed her keys, and began running toward the park where Sly and Carmelita had spent their day.

Carmelita and Sly's cop instincts instantly kicked in and they began to take chase. Since their pistols were back at Interpol they mentally readied them selves to take down the thief bare handed. They chased the stranger through the park, never getting more then a glimpse of him as he darted down a new path. Carmelita and Sly chased after the guy for a good fifteen minutes when they finally caught up with him. He was standing perfectly still, the keys in his left hand and his right resting on the hilt of what looked like a sword.

Carmelita and Sly got into defensive positions, but before they could launch an attack the stranger took his hand of his sword and threw the keys back to Carmelita and said, "Here, I just needed these to get your attention. Now that I have it, I need to talk to both of you about a very serious matter."

Carmelita growled as she pocketed the keys and said, "You got some real nerve buddy. If I had my shock pistol you would be in custody right now."

The stranger's face remained emotionless as he said, "To bad you don't have it. Now, are you going to listen to me, or will I have to go to plan B."

Carmelita was about to take this guy down bare handed, but Sly's gut was telling him they needed to listen to this guy, so he put a firm hand on her shoulder and said, "Let's hear what he has to say. Then, I could care less how badly you beat him up."

The stranger nodded his head and said, "You are very wise Constable Cooper. It has been a while since I last saw you Sly, I didn't realize how much you looked like your father, but you have your mother's quick wit, I'll give you that."

Sly's eyes widened as he said, "My father and mother. So, you know about my past."

The stranger nodded his head and said, "I am Eclipse, the guardian of the Pure Magic Gems and the map that shows their locations. A set of 5 Gems that your father was quite interested in, but I digress. The reason I have contacted you tonight is I need your help. You see, the Pure Magic Gems each represent a force of the world, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. These are forces that can shape the world. The 5th gem is the Unity stone, and it binds the other 4's conflicting powers together."

As the moon peaked from behind the cloud Carmelita and Sly got their first good look at Eclipse. He was a silver wolf, dressed in what appeared to be white wizarding robes. On his belt sat a sword, and around his neck was a necklace with a medium sized medallion on it. Eclipse took up the medallion and said, "This is the key to the temple where the map to the 5 Pure Magic Gems were stored. Since the time when the stones were forged it has been my family's obligation to guard the temple. The only way in is to use this medallion to release the ancient magic that bound the door. Until the day I found out there was a second key."

_Flashback_

It was a dark, moonless night in dense jungles of India. Only an hour's walk past the old temple where Rajan had his spice factory stood a giant door of stone, built into a cave entrance against a high, steep cliff. In front of the door sat a figure in white robes, meditating. It was Eclipse, and it seemed to be an average night. The last people who had tried to enter the temple of Pure Magic were defeated in 10 minutes flat, and that was several months ago. Eclipse came out of his meditation to look around the forest for any signs of life, but not even the animals came near the door at night. He had to admit, it was a tiresome job guarding this gate, but he was honored that out of his family he would be chosen. So, with that in mind he resumed his meditation.

If Eclipse had only kept his eyes open a few more seconds he would have noticed a cloaked figure dart between to trees. The night remained calm until Eclipse was pulled out of his meditation by the sound of a sword coming out of its sheath. Before any of the raiders knew it Eclipse had lit the torches that surrounded the gate and filled the small clearing with light. He stood up and set his hand on his own sword when from out of no where a gun is fired. Eclipse uses his sword to block the shot and then jumps into the forest and attacks the mysterious gunner. While that fight is going on the other 50 cloaked figures entered the clearing and while 49 of them got ready to hold Eclipse off another took a small circular object and slid it into an indentation in the door.

Eclipse was fighting so hard he hadn't noticed the great stone doors open, and only when the mysterious attackers retreated for what seemed to be no reason did he noticed the doors to the cavern temple were wide open. With the speed of a cheetah he ran inside and to the end of the large room that made up the temple. At the other end stood an empty pedestal, a pedestal that had previously held the map to the Pure Magic Gems

_End Flashback_

Sly and Carmelita had listened as Eclipse told them about how he searched all around the temple, but could find no trace of the thieves. Carmelita thought about it for a few seconds and then asked, "So, how long ago was that."

Eclipse sighed and said, "That was about a month ago. I have a link with the map, and found that they were using an old fortress in the south pacific for their home base. It looked like it had already been invaded, and found these items while I was walking around the outside of the fortress walls." Eclipse dug in a pocket of his robes a second and pulled out a small blue cube. He threw the cube onto the ground and in a puff of smoke several items appeared on the ground. The items included several objects ranging from canes to a set of six shooters, all of them sharing on common feature. Carmelita quickly noticed that each item had a golden hook on them, all of them in the same shape. A shape she had only scene once, and that was the shape of the cane that was one of Sly's trademarks back when he was a thief.

Carmelita quickly figured out that all of these items came from the Cooper vault. She even remembered seeing some of the items as she went through the massive obstacle course to get to the end and help Sly beat Dr. M. She looked up from the pile and said, "I think I know where you got all this."

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "What I'm wondering is if he remembers?" Carmelita then looked over to Sly who had bent down and picked up on of the six shooters. He could feel it in his heart. He recognized this stuff, it was all so familiar, but the door that sealed away his memory remained sealed tight as the Cooper family vault. Sly knew if he could just find the one thing to jog his memory right it would all come back to him.

While Sly was lost in his thought Carmelita pulled Eclipse off to one side and said, "Why are you trying to make him remember his past?"

Eclipse sighed and said, "I know you would rather Sly remained a cop, but what about Bentley and Murray. What about all his other friends who he doesn't even recognize. I need Sly, be him cop or thief, to keep the Pure Magic Gems away from who ever stole the map, but I personally think that it would be better for him to remember who he was. He could still choose to be a cop when all of this is over, but a person's past affects them in so many ways. Your past helps you guide your future, and it helps you make better choices. Besides Mrs. Fox, this amnesia hasn't only affected him, but the members of the Cooper gang as well."

Carmelita looked over her shoulder to make sure Sly was still lost in his thought before she turned back to Eclipse and said, "What are you talking about?"

Eclipse sighed as he said, "Where should I begin. How about Dimitri made for himself in the skin diving business, but then went to New York and opened up another night club, a lot like the one he used to have in Paris except it doesn't serve illegal spice or have counter fitting operation in its basement. Even with all this success the reports say that he has turned down many of their interviews just so he could have time to, "take a stride down my lane of memories", as he once said. I found out that he was spending his time remembering his adventures with the Cooper gang. The guy had spent, what, two weeks to a month with them. Even after that short time he found he liked being the frog man for the Cooper Gang. Then, there is the Panda King."

Carmelita got a surprised looked on her face as she said, "The Panda King was with them when they broke into Dr. M's fortress!"

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "They had recruited him to be their demolitions expert after they had helped save his daughter, Jing King, from being married to the guy you meet at the alter. Wasn't his name Tsao."

Carmelita nodded her head and after noticing this Eclipse said, "Well, after that he moved in two doors down from Jing King and screened all her suitors for about 8 months. Then, Jing King was finally able to marry someone, and the Panda King returned to the small shrine where he continued his meditation. I stopped in on him, and dove into his mind with my mastery of the Australian art of dreamtime."

Carmelita raised an eyebrow and said, "You are a master of dreamtime."

Eclipse nodded his head, "My father, the previous guardian of the map, taught me every mystic art in the world. I could summon up a terrible creature from a person's nightmares, and then with a snap of my fingers turn that one into an army. That is the reason I have been trusted to guard the map like my father, and all our ancestors. In the terrible case someone got their hands on all 5 stones at once the guardian of the map has to have the power to at least try to defeat the godlike power contained within the stones."

Carmelita closed her eyes to think a second and then said, "So, what happened to Panda King."

Eclipse turned and looked over to where Sly was sifting through the relics he had recovered from the Cooper vault. He sighed and said, "He has locked his mind in replaying the entire heist over and over again, from when they arrived at the island to when, after searching the island for hours, they found Sly's cane and other momentous."

Carmelita nodded her head as she watched Sly pick up a pair of short, dagger like canes that had Chinese lettering on it. She looked toward Eclipse and asked, "any others?'

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Yes, there are more. Guru, the master in dream time and Australian born member of the Cooper gang has lost his ability to summon up the dream time, and now wanders the Australian outback, trying to find answers. Murray, the strength of the original Copper gang, is now in professional stock van racing, and is on a 6 race winning street, but, as of late, he has stopped caring about the racing and has started truly missing Sly. He is taking it differently then when he left the team. Then, he felt he would see Sly and Bentley again, but now he believes that he shall never see the good old Sly again. Finally, there is Bentley and Penelope. To say the least Penelope made the whole affair a lot less painful, but I got in contact with him over Thief net once, and the second I mentioned Sly he logged of and stayed of the website for three days. A first for Bentley who, since his discovery of the site, had never gone more then two days with out thief net and that was when the thief net uplink computer had been stolen from the Cooper gangs hideout."

Carmelita nodded her head as she took in all this new information. After thinking for a minute she said, "I guess Sly was more then just a thief, he was a leader and someone who would do anything to protect those he called his friend."

Eclipse shook his and said, "Friends they were not Carmelita, they were his family. The only family he had left after that night, the night his whole world was turned upside down by Clockwerk."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Okay, but how do you plan to bring his memory back."

Eclipse sighed and said, "I have a few more trinkets from the Cooper vault, and if all that fails I have one other item. If that item can't do it then, I am afraid his memory is truly lost, and the Sly Cooper you originally fell in love with is truly lost to the sands of time."

Carmelita sighed as she began to contemplate what Eclipse had said. He was right, even though Sly still acts a lot like he used to, she misses his flirty chit-chat. The way he could make her heart melt, even while she was chasing him across the globe, trying to put him behind bars. Carmelita made a final decision in her head and then said, "Eclipse, I want you to bring his memory back if you can, but only if you will do one thing."

Eclipse turned and asked, "What is that Carmelita?"

Carmelita stood silent a second and then said, "I want to see what life is like in Sly's shoes. What it is like to be a thief, and working on the wrong side of the law. I want you to promise that no matter what happens you will let me help Sly steal the map to the Pure Magic Gems."

Eclipse looked at Carmelita a second and then said, "All right, it is a deal. Here is how it will work, once we have gotten Sly's memory back we will all head out to steal back the map to the Pure Magic Gems."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Understood."

Eclipse walked over to Sly and said, "Does any of this stuff look familiar?"

Sly nodded his head and said, "It all looks familiar, but I can't think remember where they came from, or who they belonged to."

Eclipse nodded his head and then snapped his fingers. The many relics were sucked back into the blue cube and Eclipse picked it up and slid it into his pocket. He then pulled out a red cube and threw it a few yards away from Carmelita, Sly, and himself. The red cube disappeared in a large wall of smoke, and when the smoke dissipated they saw a large selection of portraits that were hung up against a red wall.

Sly walked up to the pictures and looked at each one. The people in the pictures, he knew them from somewhere. He knew they were the best at what they did, and knew that they were all similar, yet different. He finally came to the last picture, which was missing its top half. Eclipse noticed Sly had stopped at that picture, and watched as Sly's eyes began to water.

Sly brushed away the tears. He didn't know why he was crying, but something about this damaged portrait made him want to cry. Eclipse returned the portraits to the small red cube and traded it for a green one. He gently tossed the cube and in a puff of smoke a glass case appeared, sitting on top of a piece of green plastic. Eclipse motioned toward the case and Sly looked into it and saw a cane much like the other ones he had seen, but along side the cane was a tattered book with the words, "Thievius Raccoonus" spelled out on its cover. Next the book was a picture of man, woman, and child in a family portrait. Sly looked carefully at the picture and then asked, "Who are these two people?"

Eclipse glanced at the photo and said, "They are your parents Sly."

Sly eyes widened as he looked at the picture again and said, "My parents!"

In an instant Eclipse took hold of Carmelita's shoulder and she watched as the world disappeared around her. Carmelita's eyes darted around, trying to see anything, but only seeing darkness. Then, she felt her feet setting on a stone path and a great door appearing in the darkness. She turned to see Eclipse was standing beside her. She quickly stepped to the side as she asked, "What did you do criminal, where is Sly."

Eclipse looked a little surprised by Carmelita's reaction, but calmly said, "Chill Carmelita. We have to work together if we are to get anywhere."

Carmelita eyed Eclipse as she lowered her hand to find she didn't have her shock pistol. After a few seconds of silence Carmelita looked at the door and said, "What's with the Clockwerk sized gate."

Eclipse turned his head and said, "That is the gate into Sly Cooper's mind. I have bridged our mind with his in hopes of unlocking some of his lost memories. Once we are in we can leave any time, but we can only enter when the locks on this gate are released. Though he doesn't show it, Sly's mind is like a fortress. How do you think he fought and defeated the Contessa with such ease? His will power allows him to fight mind control of all sorts, and unfortunately that includes mind bridging when his mind is the host mind."

Carmelita eyed Eclipse then the door and asked, "So, shouldn't' this thing be opening."

Eclipse walked up to the door and said, "Give it a second. Sly is desperately trying to remember his mother and father right now, and to do that he will eventually unlock this door and open up more of his mind." Eclipse put his hand on the door and after a few seconds the great lock on the door undid itself and the doors began to crack open. Eclipse quickly motioned toward Carmelita and they both ran inside.

Once through the door they found they were surrounded by a high mountain range, and in front of them was a large fortress. The Fortress was built into four levels. The whole complex was contained within a 9 story wall. On the inside there were many smaller buildings, but in the center stood a huge building. The building was divided into four levels. The first level stood on a high plateau in the center of area. The second level was smaller the first and it stood on top of the first, and such was the third to the second. The whole thing looked like a pyramid with square sides. Eclipse quickly led Carmelita up to the wall. He placed his hand on the wall and in an instant a small gap in the wall formed. Carmelita and Eclipse went through the gap and saw the inside of the fortress.

As they ran toward the huge building in the center of the area Eclipse pointed to the smaller buildings that represented the different parts of Sly's mind. A court house represented his sense of right and wrong. A theater represented his imagination and his dreams, and a library his intellect. The pair finally reached the central building in the complex and Eclipse said, "This, this is where Sly keeps his memory's. Now, in most minds the doors to the memory building are wide open. Do you notice something about his?"

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Yeah, they're closed tight. There must be 6 locks on it."

Eclipse nodded and said, 'The keys for all those locks are inside the building. This is what we came her to do. Unlike in real life, Sly can not just sneak in through another way. For him to gain access to his memories he must travel through the front door. We, however, can go through a side entrance."

Carmelita nodded and said, "That's why we are here. To get those keys and unlock Sly's memories."

Eclipse nodded her head and said, "Though we will have to do this at least three times."

Carmelita got a quizzical look on her face as she asked, "Why three times?"

Eclipse sighed and said, "We have to do this three times because each time we open a door Sly will sense us intruding on his mind, and quickly throw us out. You see, there are three locked doors to Sly's memory palace. The first one, and one we are dealing with, will allow him to remember everything from his birth to when he first saw Happy Campers Orphanage. The second level of this fortress holds his years at Happy Campers Orphanage, which includes him meeting his best friends Murray and Bentley. The third level contains everything after that. "

Carmelita nodded and then asked, "What about the forth level."

Eclipse looked up to the top of the tower and said, "That my dear, is a mystery I do not have the answer for. In every person's mind they have a similar complex, and each complex has that final level, where no memories are stored. The level seems to be off limits to everyone, even the person themselves. I wouldn't have a clue what is contained in that fourth level, but let us get to the matter at hand."

Carmelita nodded her head and followed Eclipse to a small door in the side of the memory building. The door was not locked, and they entered the room with ease. On the inside the building was much like a museum. Many items representing different parts of Sly's past. Eclipse and Carmelita walked through the many items for a few minutes. They saw a toy plane Sly had gotten for his birthday. A kite that he had gotten stuck in a tree and his father had gotten down for him. They got to the north end of the room, opposite the main gate, and saw a large spiral stair case that Eclipse said lead up to the door to the second level. As they began to search the wide room for the 6 keys Carmelita stooped by one of the exhibits. In the display case she saw what she knew was the Thievius Raccoonus. Carmelita looked around to see where Eclipse was, and after seeing he was know where to be seen she gently opened the glass case and touched the tattered book.

Carmelita suddenly got the feeling of movement, and when she opened her eyes she was standing in someone's living room. In one part of the room a young boy was playing with a toy car while he father sat and watched him as he smoked a pipe. Suddenly the father swooped down of his chair picked the boy up. The father sat back down in his chair and set the boy on his knee and said, "You know what Sly. Tomorrow is your birthday isn't it."

Sly smiled widely and said, "You bet dad. I'll officially be a big boy tomorrow."

The father smiled and said, "You got that right kid, and you know what you'll be big enough to have."

The young Sly scratched his head and said, "A bigger piece of birthday cake."

The father laughed and said, "That to, but tomorrow you will be old enough to inherit the Thievius Raccoonus."

The boy's eyes lit up and said, "Really dad. I will be old enough. OH, I wish it was my birthday right now."

The father chuckled and said, "Just wait until tomorrow, and then you can begin to fill my shoes and become the best thief this world has ever seen. Even better then me."

Sly smiled and said, "I won't ever be better then you are dad. You are the best."

The father smiled and Carmelita almost cried at the heart warming scene. Suddenly, a loud knock came at the door. Sly's father stood up quickly and went over to the door. He peaked through the eye hole, and then he almost dropped his pipe. He quickly rushed over to Sly, grabbed the hook tipped cane sitting by the door and put both of them in the closet. Just as he was about to shut the door he said, "Now Sly, you're a big boy aren't you."

The young Sly just nodded his head, sensing his fathers worry. Sly's father smiled and said, "Sly, then you are big enough to do as you are told. You must not leave this closet. No matter what you hear, you must not leave this closet until I come to get you. Do you understand?"

Sly nodded his head again. His father hugged him tight and whispered, "Grow up, and be the best Cooper you can. That is all you have to do to make me and you ancestors happy." With that Sly's father shut the closet door and ran over to the phone he quickly dialed 911 and when the operator came on he said, "Quickly, there are people at my door who I know are here to hurt me and my son. Please, send someone over here right away."

Sly's father finished giving the operator all the necessary information when the sound of the front door being beat down came to his ears. He spun around to see 5 figures looming over him. They were the fiendish five, and Sly's father had already placed himself between them and the picture safe that held the Thievius Raccoonus.

Carmelita watched as this man fought like a god, taking everything they did to him with out flinching, just to protect his family and their family heirloom. Eventually though, his wounds were too much for him, and with one final blow Clockwerk finished the job. Carmelita looked over to the closet where she saw the young Sly, with tears welling up in his eyes. They both watched as the fiendish five stole the Thievius Raccoonus and were out the door. Carmelita watched as Sly's father slowly edged himself over to the closet, using what life he had left he opened the door and said, "Sly, are you alright?"

Sly came out of the door at full speed and he dove down and began hugging his father's neck. The father just smiled as he said, "Sly, listen to me now."

Sly, with tears in his eyes said, "Y…Yes dad?"

Sly's father smiled a little and said, "Never forget, you are a Cooper, and that the Thievius Raccoonus is rightfully yours. Become a great thief son, and steal back the Thievius Raccoonus. Will you do that for me son?"

Sly nodded his head through the tears as his father's hand slowly became limp and cold. Carmelita desperately wanted to comfort Sly at this time, but she suddenly felt the weight of someone's hand on her shoulder and the living room scene slowly disappeared as a police officer stepped through the door into the living room.

The next thing Carmelita knew she was standing back in the hall of Sly's memories and Eclipse was saying, "Carmelita, you with me?"

Carmelita shook her head and said, "What happened?"

Eclipse closed the lid to the display case and said, "You just experienced one of Sly's worst memories. Coming in contact with any of these items will make you experience that memory. Now, come on. While you were wrapped up in that horrible memory I found all the keys. Let's get outside and open the gate."

Carmelita nodded her head and the pair left the way they came. In a few minutes they had just unlocked the last lock, and they both were thrown back as the doors to the first level of the complex flew open and they were thrown out of Sly's mind.

The next thing Carmelita knew she was back in the park, and Sly was on his knee's crying. She rushed over to comfort Sly as Eclipse said, "It will take a while for Sly to sort through all those memories. I would suggest you stay at his side, because you are the only one he can trust right now. I will be back tomorrow morning, and by then I will have our next move planned." With that Eclipse placed Sly's cane, the Thievius Raccoonus, and the photograph beside Sly, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.


	3. Memories

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own thecharacters that I have personally createdand the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 3

Memories

Carmelita got Sly home a little after 10:00. She helped him over to the couch and then went about making him a cup of coffee. They had left the movie theater around 7:30, and in that short 2 and a half hours Sly now had to process all his childhood memories at once, including the one Carmelita had seen first hand. She finished making the coffee and offered him the cup, but Sly just stared off into space. Carmelita sat down beside him and said, "Come on Sly, the coffee will help. It may keep you up all night, but it will help ease your nerves right now."

Sly just continued to stare off into the distance, and then he lowered his head and began to shed a few tears. After a few minutes of this Carmelita said, "Come Sly, it will be alright."

Sly shuddered a second and then said, "How can it be alright. I just relived every good and horrible moment of my child hood, and I still have so much more to remember. I am starting to think I don't want my memories back, that I was happy just living my life like I appeared in the world a year ago."

Carmelita put her hand on Sly's shoulder and said, "It's all right, I know what you must be going through."

Sly kept his head down put he pulled his shoulder away from Carmelita and yelled, "HOW CAN YOU KNOW?"

Carmelita drew her hand back and then sighed as she said, "I know because I saw what happened the night before you birthday."

Sly turned his head toward Carmelita and saw she was also on the verge of crying. After a few silent moments Carmelita said, "To get your memories back Eclipse and I went inside your mind. While he was searching for the keys to unlock the door to your memories I happened upon what looked like the Thievius Raccoonus, but when I touched it I got to see everything that happened that night."

Sly was shocked, and yet guilt ridden for yelling at Carmelita when he said, "You saw everything that happened that night."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Like I was in the room when it happened."

Sly sighed and said, "I am sorry for yelling Carmelita. I guess remembering all this for the first time in a year; it will get to a guy."

Carmelita smiled and said, "But you don't have to travel alone. Until you get your memories back I will be right at your side, helping you to get every memory back."

Sly smiled and said, "You would really do that for me."

Carmelita nodded her head and handed Sly his coffee and said, "I am doing it right now. Now drink this coffee before it gets cold."

Sly nodded and took the coffee and drank a little he lowered the cup from his mouth and said, "Man, if you're going to be a supportive as this coffee is good, consider my memories recovered."

Carmelita shook her head and scoffed as she said, "Memories or not, you are always the same Sly Cooper."

Carmelita stayed the night with Sly, and in the morning convinced Sly to practice some of the thieving moves from the Thievius Raccoonus. Sly hesitated a bit, but in thirty minutes he was moving and jumping around like he always had. It was about 10:00 when someone knocked on Sly's door. It was Eclipse, and he had some news for them.

After finding out what had happened since he last saw the two love birds he said, "All right, here is what I think our next move should be. The map to the Pure Magic Gems is already been 1/4 decoded, and in this short time I have finally found out who stole it and why."

Carmelita and Sly looked toward each other and then Sly asked, "All right, then who did it?"

Eclipse sighed and said, "It is a group called the Metal Owl Clan. It is a group that was separate from the fiendish five completely. It is made up of people who viewed Clockwerk as a god, and were willing to fight an army if Clockwerk ordered it. Imaging their surprise when they get word Clockwerk had been defeated by a weak raccoon. Some left the Clan after that, but others went about trying to find a way to resurrect Clockwerk. That is how they found out about the Pure Magic Gems. They are the only things that could resurrect Clockwerk, and also make him truly immortal." Eclipse then pulled a pair of plane tickets out of his pocket and handed them to Carmelita and Sly.

Carmelita looked at the ticket and said, "What is this for?"

Eclipse replied, "I told you that they had taken up an old fortress in the south pacific as their home base. Well, that was Dr. M's fortress, and that is why I found all the portraits and heirlooms from Sly's ancestors. That is also why are only chance of breaking into that fortress is to get the one group in the world that ever has broken into it, the Cooper Gang."

Sly looked at his ticket and said, "So, why are we going to California?"

Eclipse replied, "We are going to the main research center for the Athena research company. It is a contracting company the works with NASA to develop it mars explorers. After a bit of digging I found out that both Bentley, the brains of the Cooper gang, and Penelope, the RC specialist, are working at the research center trying to design better mars probes."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "So we will be effectively killing two birds with one stone."

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Now, those plane tickets are for flight that is this Saturday. You should both try to arrange it so you each have about a month off from Interpol. On Saturday you are to meet me at the gate at 10:30, in disguise. I don't care what your disguises are, but you must be in disguise. Now, do we have an understanding?"

Carmelita and Sly both nodded their heads in understanding. Eclipse smiled and then continued to lay out his plan to get Bentley and Penelope back with the gang.

At the Olympus research center Bentley and Penelope were working a little late in the lab. The company had recently been given a strange block of ice. The people who found the ice wanted to know if it had an archeological significance because they could see something was frozen in the ice. Bentley and Penelope had used many different techniques to discern what was in the ice, but none of them had worked. Finally they both agreed they would have to melt a small portion of the ice so that their scanners would be able to scan the core of the ice where the item was frozen.

As the ice began to melt Bentley wheeled over to Penelope and asked, "So, what are the readings."

Penelope turned and said, "They are holding steady and the ice is melting at a good rate on every side of the ice."

Bentley smiled and said, "That's good. With any luck we may be out of here before long."

Penelope nodded her head and said, "So, are we still on for our date tomorrow night."

Bentley nodded his head and said, "So, should I pick you up around 6:00."

Penelope laughed as she said, "Pick me up, I live in the apartment right next to you. How about I just meet you in front of the building at that time?"

Bentley sighed and said, "I guess it's alright."

Penelope shook her head and said, "Now you don't try that. My mind is made up."

Bentley smiled and chuckled as he said, "Well, that used to work. I guess I'll just have to put on some of that Bentley charm."

Penelope laughed, and soon they were laughing together. They were suddenly interrupted by the computers alarm. Penelope glanced at the monitor and said, "Come on Bentley, something's happened in the lab. We have to get down there."

Bentley and Penelope raced down to the lab where the ice had been melting. When they got down there they saw bits of ice had been flung everywhere, and that there was a shadowy figure at the other end of the lab. Suddenly, the figure moved and said, "I am as sore as a beaver with a tooth ach. Wait, where am I? This isn't my lumber mill."

Bentley eyes went wide and he quickly spun around to Penelope and said, "Get out of here now. I'll cover you escape."

Penelope got a worried look on her face as she asked, "What's the matter Bentley."

Bentley hurriedly replied, "Just go, and trust me. I'll be fine."

Penelope nodded her head and quickly ran out of the lab, heading for the centers security room so she could see and hear what was going on in the lab. Bentley waited to make sure she had gone before he wheeled closer to the figure. He quickly shot a few sleep darts at the figure and said, "I don't know how you got here, but it will be the same as the last time."

The figure turned and Bentley got a clear look. It was Jean-Bison, the lumber jack and old member of the KLAWW gang. He looked as he always did. The guy looked around and then down at Bentley. After a few minutes he said, "Who are you cripple. Wait, I know you, your that stupid turtle who beat me in my own lumber mill. Well, I guess its time to return the favor. I'll just have to thrash you in this fancy lab you got here."

Bentley got ready when suddenly a remote control car came out of no where and smacked Bison right in the head. The buffalo turned and saw Penelope holding the little cars remote control. Bison charged Penelope and in one quick motion sent her flying against the wall. He smashed the remote for the RC car and was about to pound her to death when Bentley shouted out, "DON"T YOU HURT HER."

Bison turned and saw Bentley, in the smack center of the room. He quickly charged the turtle and before Bentley could get out of the way Bison had picked him up, out of his chair, and threw both him and the chair over to where Penelope was. He then walked over and said, "Now listen carefully girly. Unless you want mister stupid here to be thrown to the other side of the room I suggest you listen to me."

Penelope was quivering in fear, but she was able to say, "I'll do anything, just don't hurt Bentley."

Jean-Bison smiled and said, "Good, now take him to this places basement, and leave both him and his wheel chair down their. Then, you are going to put you brain to work building me a flying train. My dream will be realized, and I will have me and Iron Pegasus, a flying Iron Horse train."

Penelope nodded her head and gently got Bentley back into his wheelchair. Once she had gotten him down to the basement she asked, "Bentley, what are we going to do?"

Bentley rubbed his head, trying to fight off a massive headache as he said, "I don't know Penelope. Everything on my wheelchair is broken, but if I might be able to get my grapple cam working again, so I can go out and get someone to help us."

Penelope nodded her head when she heard Jean-Bison call up from the top of the stairs. She kissed Bentley on the cheek once before she said, "Please, just hurry. I don't know how long it will be before that guy comes down here and finishes what he started."

Bentley nodded his head and once Jean-Bison and Penelope were gone, he began to do what he could to get one of his grapple cams working.


	4. Old Friends and a Frozen Enemy

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own thecharacters that I have personally createdand the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 4

Old Friends and a Frozen Enemy

Eclipse met Sly and Carmelita at the airport at their scheduled time. Sly and Carmelita had decided to disguise themselves as a couple who were going to California on vacation. They both had tropical, flowery shirts on, sunglasses, shorts, and sandals. Eclipse had chosen to travel in a simple light blue T-shirt and blue jeans with running shoes. As they flew Eclipse kept to him self while Carmelita told Sly what she could about Bentley and Penelope. It was mid afternoon when they arrived at the hotel nearest to the research center. After checking in and changing into their usual clothes they waited for the sun to set. Once it was dark out Eclipse led Sly and Carmelita out onto the streets.

As they walked Eclipse said, "Now, are first stop in trying to find these two will be their apartment building. They each have an apartment in the building, and the two apartments are right beside each other. We will first try and convince Penelope you really have gotten your memory back before will face Bentley."

Sly sighed and said, "For some reason, I have a feeling this isn't going to be easy."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "That does seem to be your record Sly. If the plan is too simple something pops up to make it much more complicated."

They walked in silence until they got to the apartment complex. Eclipse had Sly pick the front door lock and they quickly went up to Bentley and Penelope's floor. They walked to the end of the hallway, where Penelope and Bentley's apartments were, and knocked on Penelope's door. They knocked several times on both Bentley and Penelope's doors, and got no reply. Eclipse was about to have them leave when Sly thought he heard something coming from Bentley's room. He put his ear up against the door, and listened carefully. This time he was sure he heard something in the apartment.

After playing with the 3 deadbolts Bentley had on the door the trio was in the apartment. Eclipse and Carmelita looked around the living room while Sly went through the other rooms. He was passing through Bentley's bedroom when he saw a blinking light out side the window. Upon further inspection it appeared to be a metal ball with a grapple on it. He opened up the window and grabbed the strange device.

Sly took the thing back to the living room, and gave it to Eclipse. He examined it a second before he said, "Yep, this is Bentley's grapple cam, but the battery is about to die. I'll just give it a quick charge."

Eclipse held the grapple cam in his open palm as small blue lightning bolts shot from his hand to the grapple cam. Soon the item began to make several other noises as it began to turn on. When the battery was fully charged they could hear a nasally voice coming from a speaker built into the grapple cam. Eclipse set the grapple cam on the table and said, "We didn't get that, please repeat."

The voice sounded thankful as it said, "Thank goodness, my name is Bentley. I am in the Olympus Research Center's basement, and a wanted criminal named Jean-Bison is upstairs forcing my coworker, Penelope, to build something for him."

Eclipse looked over to Sly, who was just sitting there. The voice, it seemed familiar to him. He waited a second before he said, "Bentley?"

The device went quite for a second and the Bentley's voice came over the speaker saying, "Sly, is that you?"

Sly nodded his head and said, "Yeah Bentley, it's me."

Bentley said, "Oh Sly, I have missed you so much. I can tell you being a thief was so much better then this job here. I mean, the whole nine to five gig is so boring. Even Penelope wants the gang to get back together. I…"

Suddenly, Bentley's voice stopped coming over the line and they heard another voice shouting, "Hey turtle, who are you talking to."

Bentley stuttered as he said, "No one Bison. I am just thinking out loud."

Jean-Bison replied, "Yeah, I ain't stupid like you, and I can prove my point. That is a microphone isn't it, your talking to someone aren't you, you stupid crippled turtle. Well, who ever you are know this. If I catch wind the police are on their way here I will leave them to pretty presents for them to bury in the ground, about 6 feet deep. You hear me." The line then went dead as they heard the sound of someone smashing the microphone.

Eclipse looked over to Sly and asked, "Do you really remember Bentley?'

Sly stood up and said, "The voice, it is so familiar, and I know I should know the guy. I guess the only way to remember is to save him and meet him face to face."

Eclipse and Carmelita nodded their heads and head out the door. As they walked Carmelita told Sly all about Jean-Bison, and how it had been through the efforts of his gang that he had been brought into custody. After a few months he got out on parole, and became and major environmentalist. That was until he was frozen solid while trying to save a bunch of penguins.

The trio got outside the research center's front gate and saw a bunch of robots patrolling the outside. Eclipse motioned for Carmelita and Sly to follow them and he led them over to a building across the street from the research center. They used the fire escape to get onto the roof, and they used it as a vantage point to see what was going on at the research center.

Eclipse said, "Jean-Bison is smarter then I thought. He had Penelope reprogram the places security robots. They are probably going to use lethal force if they spot us, but maybe we can get in another way."

Carmelita looked around the outer wall and said, "Where, the only gate is the front one and there are 5 robots guarding it."

Eclipse turned toward Sly and said, "Well, let's see some of those thieving skills in action. You should be able to see a way for use to get in."

Sly looked around for a while, when a power line a few buildings down caught his eye. It went straight over the street and research centers wall to connect with the research center's main building near the roof. He turned toward Eclipse and said, "I think I see a way in. Look at that power line."

Eclipse and Carmelita saw that it was a perfect means of entry for Sly, but not for them. Eclipse then said, "Here is how I think we should do this. I will use my powers to drain the line of it power and make it safe to run on. Sly, you will carry Carmelita across the wire using your rail walk. Once you are inside the building try and find your way to the basement. Get Bentley and have him lead you to the buildings central computer. He should be able to use it to shut down all the security robots and make it possible for me to get in. Then, once inside, all four of use will search the center for Penelope and Jean-Bison. Since Bentley knows what is in the research center he can give us a means to put Jean-Bison in his place. Once we have a mean of dealing with the short tempered lumberjack we will split into two groups. One group will go save Penelope and the other will deal with Jean-Bison."

Carmelita and Sly nodded their heads and the trio quickly made their way across the roof tops to the power line. Eclipse drained the line of it energy, and after a little bit of flirty chit-chat Sly was carrying Carmelita across the power line to the research center. With a little effort the pair was soon standing on the research complex's roof. They looked around for an entrance, and Sly spotted an air vent plenty big enough for them to crawl through.

Though Carmelita wasn't thrill with crawling through the air vent she followed Sly as they crept through the network of vents until they found their way to the basement. Sly used his cane to smash the grill on the vent and they both jumped down into the pitch black basement. Carmelita began to feel around for a light switch while Sly tried his best to see what was in the basement. While scanning the basement he saw what looked like a lump in the floor, and it was breathing. At that moment Carmelita found the light switch and Sly saw that the lump was a green turtle that was on the floor beside a thoroughly damaged and gutted wheel chair. He walked over the turtle and said, "Hey, buddy, are you okay?"

The turtle stirred and looked up at Sly. That instance a smile crossed his face and he said, "Sly, I knew someday you would come back."

Sly sighed and Carmelita said, "Hello Bentley."

Bentley's eyes bulged as he said, "Inspector Fox, what are you doing here. Hurry Sly, run, before she can get you."

Sly turned away from Bentley as Carmelita walked over and helped the turtle into his battered wheel chair. After a few silent moments Bentley said, "Sly, it's me. Bentley, your old friend. Don't you remember me?"

Sly shook his head and then Carmelita said, "A guy named Eclipse is helping him to get his memory back, but right now all he remembers his life before he went to Happy Campers Orphanage."

Bentley sighed and said, "So, he doesn't remember me. I guessed as much. When I saw his name in the paper for busting a criminal with you I thought he had either gone mad or something had happened to him."

Carmelita turned and said, "He has amnesia Bentley."

Bentley sighed and said, "So, I guess after this you'll be going back to Interpol. After you save me, a perfect stranger."

Carmelita set her hand on Bentley's shoulder, and after a few minutes Bentley said, "Probably be better if he didn't remember me anyway, he probably has the perfect life now."

In an instance Carmelita raise her hand of Bentley's shoulder and slapped him across the face with a resounding smack. Sly turned in shock as Bentley placed a hand on his cheek. After a few seconds Carmelita began to cry as she said, "You shut up. Sly is risking everything to have this one chance to get his memories back. Not only for himself, but for you and the other Cooper Gang members. Eclipse told me how every member misses Sly, and how they wished that he would come back and be a thief. Your right, I would prefer it if Sly remained an Interpol officer. This past year has been the happiest in my life, but I am willing to put my trust in him that once he gets his memory back nothing will change between us. So, if you really don't want him to remember you, then we will leave right now and leave you to Jean-Bison."

Bentley stood in silence as did Sly. Bentley had struck a nerve for Carmelita, and Sly and Bentley could have felt the emotion in the air like it was a heavy mist. Sly slowly walked over and said, "Carmelita, are you okay."

Carmelita turned and it ripped Sly's heart out to see her crying. He slowly brought her close and held her tight as he said, "I promise, no matter what happens. If I get my memory back or not, I will never forget what you mean to me."

Bentley didn't know it, but a smile was crossing his face now that he saw just how happy Sly and Carmelita were in each others arms. He sighed and wheeled himself over and said, "I am sorry Carmelita. You are right, I would give anything to have the old Sly back, but let's not worry about that right now."

Carmelita nodded her head and dried an eye as Sly released her from their embrace. She took a breath in, got her usual mind set, and said, "Come on then, we need to get up to the center's central computer."

Bentley looked quizzically at Carmelita as he said, "Why do we need to go there?"

Sly replied, "We need to disable the security robots patrolling the building exterior. With them down Eclipse can get in and help us save Penelope and take Jean-Bison down."

Bentley nodded his head and the trio was soon in the front lobby of the building. Bentley lead them to the central computer with little incident. Bentley knew the Security robots patrol schedule, and they were able to get to the central computer with out being detected.

Bentley quickly went to work trying to disable the security robots. As he typed he said, "So, Sly how has it been. I haven't seen you in a year."

Sly turned and smiled as he said, "Beside the whole no memories thing, it has been divine. I can say that Carmelita and I are officially dating."

Bentley shook his head and said, "Now that is one thing I never thought would happen. I know it should have happened, but never thought it possible. I guess even getting amnesia can have its up sides."

Sly shrugged his shoulders and said, "So, how close are you to shutting down the security robots."

Bentley sighed as he said, "Here is the thing Sly. Jean-Bison has the security robots on the inside check in with him regularly. If I shut them down he will surely notice and come up here to figure out what is going on, but I can mess with their operating systems, making them sluggish and slow to respond. I can also disable their link to the research centers alarm system. If your friend Eclipse can take out all the robots outside in five minutes flat, then he can easily slip in here undetected. Do you have a way to contact him?"

Sly and Carmelita looked at each other and then Carmelita said, "Actually, I don't think we do."

Bentley turned around and eyed them as he said, "You seriously came here to save me and Penelope and didn't bother bring any radios. That is like basic equipment."

Sly shrugged and said, "Sorry, but we had expected to catch you two at your apartments. Didn't think we be pulling off a job just to get a hold of you."

Bentley sighed and said, "Well, does he still have my grapple cam with him."

Carmelita thought a second and then said, "Yes, I do believe he took it with him when we left your apartment."

Bentley nodded his head and typed a few things on the centers main computer. We could then hear this humming coming over the speakers. After a second a microphone rose out of the desk beside the keyboard and Bentley took hold of it. He tapped on it to make sure it was working before he said, "Hello. Is there a Mr. Eclipse somewhere near the grapple cam?"

The trio heard the humming stop and Eclipse's voice came over the centers speakers as he said, "Hello, is this thing still working?"

Bentley replied, "Yes it is. Now listen Eclipse, I can't shut the security robots down. I can make them slower, and unable to contact the centers alarm system. If you can destroy all the exterior robots you can get inside. Think you can manage."

Eclipse chuckled and said, "Hey, how many robots are there?"

Bentley checked some figures and said, "There are 30 robots patrolling the centers exterior. Why?"

Eclipse said, "Time me."

Bentley got a look of confusion on his face, but then shrugged his shoulder as he pulled a stop watch out of a drawer and then said, "Alright, Ready, Set, GO!"

Eclipse leapt of the roof top he had been waiting on, and drew his sword. He then ran at the front gate and sliced a hole in it. The second he did all the robots on patrol headed for his location, but he smiled and said, "Just making it so much easier."

Eclipse raised his blade up and it began to glow a dark yellow color as he said, "Bed of Spikes." He drove his sword into the ground and as his sword went deeper into the earth thousands of other blades rose further out of the ground, destroying all the robots in one fell swoop. He then quickly pulled the sword out of the ground and sheathed the sword as he said, "Time."

Bentley's voice came out of the grapple cam. He sounded like he was shocked when he said, "47 seconds. That was amazing. What kind of sword can do that?"

Eclipse chuckled as he calmly walked toward the front door and said, "It is not the weapon you wield, but the way you wield it, but lets not dwell on that. Let's focus on getting Penelope to safety first. Bentley, how about I meet you three in the lab where Jean-Bison and Penelope are. You will get their before me, but I'll be right behind you."

Bentley replied, "Understood. We will soften Jean-Bison up a bit, and then you can come in a drop kick him to the next county." With that Bentley shut of the computers link to his grapple cam and he, Carmelita, and Sly headed down to the lab. They were able to make a straight shot to the lab, only having to hide once or twice to avoid some of the interior security robots.

As they neared the lad they could hear Jean-Bison saying, "Can't you work any faster. Here I save you so much work by bring in one of my old Iron Horse trains, and you still have yet to turn it into a flying Iron Horse, a Iron Pegasus."

Penelope voice trembled as she said, "I am g..going as f…fa…fast as I can. I am almost done making a part to replace the Clockwerk lung that used to run the train."

Jean-Bison growled as he said, "Well work faster, or do I need to go get that stupid turtle out of the basement and make him pay for your laziness."

Penelope's voice got loud as she said, "No don't hurt him. I'll work as fast as I can."

Bentley had had enough, and he burst through the lab with Carmelita and Sly right behind him. He wheeled till he was a few yards away from Bison when he yelled, "You leave her alone Bison. Your quarrel is with me, not Penelope."

Jean-Bison turned around and said, "Well, I guess the stupid turtle found a way out of the basement, and then got him some back up. The scrawny raccoon Sly Cooper and I don't think I know the fox lady, but I think I liked to."

Sly stepped forward and said, "Sorry Bison, Carmelita is taken."

Bison shrugged his shoulder as he said, "Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be." Jean then quickly scooped Penelope up and pulled out his ax as he said, "Now, any of you take a step closer and she gets it, understand."

Bentley, Carmelita, and Sly all put their hands up and Jean-Bison chuckled as he started to head for the labs far exit. What he didn't notice was someone come in through the exit. Eclipse saw the situation and with bullet like speed tackled Jean-Bison causing him to toss Penelope across the room. Bentley was quick to act, and was able to catch Penelope in his lap before she hit the ground. Penelope smiled up and Bentley and said, "Nice catch Bentley."

Bentley smiled and said, "Now what kind of guy would I be if I let my beautiful girlfriend fall down. You think I was LeFwee or something."

Penelope chuckled a little and said, "Now don't bring up that old pirate."

While Penelope and Bentley were exchanging flirty comments Eclipse and Jean-Bison were starring each other down. Jean-Bison looked Eclipse over a second and then said, "What is this? Now I have to deal with a scrawny wolf in a white robe. What else can go wrong today?"

Eclipse lowered his eyes as he said, "This can go wrong." Eclipse slid his sword out of its sheath and it began to glow a mixture of white and black as he said, "Mirror Image". Suddenly the sword let off a thick smoke that hid eclipse from everyone in the room. As the smoke began to settle Jean-Bison rubbed his eyes and said, "What, there are two of you now."

It was true; Eclipse's spell had split him in two. He was original a silver wolf, but now there were two wolves. One had fur as white as snow while the other had fur as black as night. The white wolf smiled and said, "Yep, my name is Solar. I am Eclipse's good side."

The black then sneered as he said, "And my name is Lunar, and I am Eclipse's dark side."

Solar said, "And when we fight in unison."

Lunar said, "Nobody can defeat us."

With that both Lunar and Solar charged Bison. They drew their swords, and, instead of slicing Jean-Bison, they used their swords as pole vaults and jumped over his head. They then landed and they both did a round house kick to the back of Jean-Bison's head. This sent the lumberjack flying across the room and into the very hard wall of the laboratory. Jean-Bison was out cold, and while the others were looking to see if Jean-Bison was truly defeated Solar and Lunar melted together back into Eclipse.

Bentley and Sly spent an hour getting caught up while Carmelita helped Penelope tie Jean-Bison up really tight. At the same time Eclipse had taken a liking to the flying train, the Iron Pegasus. Penelope had almost completed it; she just needed to wire all the circuits. With that in mind Eclipse opened up one of the trains panels, and while the others were distracted, finished wiring the train.

Penelope had just gotten off the phone with the local police when she said, "Well, we have 15 minutes before the police arrive. I made it sound like Jean-Bison was still terrorizing us, so they are going to come in here fully loaded."

Bentley nodded his head and said, "Then I think it is imperative we get back to my and Penelope's apartment. We will need to pack if we are going to be rejoining the Cooper Gang."

Sly sighed and said, "Thanks Bentley. I really wish I had all my memories back. Heck, I don't even know how we met, but with your and Eclipse's help. I will have all my memories back, and then we can repay Eclipse for his assistance by helping him steal back the map to the Pure Magic Gems."

Bentley nodded his head and said, "Agreed. Now, you guys will have to find another way to get out of here. Penelope and I have to stay here to make sure nobody knows you were here."

Eclipse smiled and said, "Then, let's leave in style. Anybody up for a train ride."

Penelope looked over to the train and said, "You finished wiring it."

Eclipse nodded his head as he turned and began to walk for the train. Sly and Carmelita quickly followed and Bentley opened the large hanger doors that were attacked to that part of the lab. The Iron Pegasus left the lab just as the police began to pull up, and luckily none of them noticed the sound of a train engine puffing along above their heads. As Eclipse flew the Iron Pegasus Sly and Carmelita climbed onto the top of the conductor's cabin and looked up at the stars. As they flew Carmelita looked over to Sly and said, "Hey Sly."

Sly smiled as he said, "What is it my most precious treasure?"

Carmelita blushed a little and then said, "I was wondering. I saw how badly Bentley had been beaten up by Jean-Bison. If I was in trouble, would you fight that hard to protect me."

Sly smiled and put his arm around Carmelita's shoulder as he said, "I would fight ten times as hard if it meant you would be safe." Carmelita smiled and snuggled into Sly's chest as Eclipse flew the train over the Californian coast line. Eclipse could hear what was going on above him, and decided to give them fifteen minutes before he would head for their motel and park this thing on the roof.


	5. A Romantic Cruise

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 5

Dinner for Two

Eclipse was determined to make the Iron Pegasus a great creation. So, after some persuading, he got Bentley, Penelope, Sly, and Carmelita to take a 10 day couples cruise. He paid for anything, and before they knew it the two pairs of love birds were waving good bye to Eclipse. Once the ship was far enough away Eclipse speed off toward the old warehouse where the train was stored and began his great endeavor to make the Iron Pegasus his own creation.

Bentley and Penelope's room was located on the other end of the ship, so the group was split in two for most of the cruise. Bentley and Penelope stayed to themselves most of the time, and Carmelita and Sly spent their time together. There was a lot to do on the ship, from rock-climbing, to swimming, to skating. If you can imagine it, it probably had a place somewhere on the ship.

When Sly and Carmelita first saw the room they both blushed quite a bit when they noticed that there was only one bed, and that they would be sharing it for the entire cruise. The uncomfortable feel soon passed and they began to enjoy themselves. On the first day they spent the entire morning roller skating around the ships deck. After a quick lunch Carmelita convinced Sly to show her how to do the rail walk. It was easy to find places to practice on the huge ship, and soon Sly and Carmelita were racing, trying to see who could rail walk the fastest from one end of the ship to the other.

Sly and Carmelita spent the first 5 days of the cruise doing everything and anything the ship had to offer, and growing all the closer the entire time. The only time the pair spied Bentley and Penelope was when the pair was catching some rays on the ship's deck. They were both fast asleep, but they also had smiled on their faces. On the 6th day the ship had it official couples day. They offered many romantic activities, all of it leading up to a grand firework show being launched from the ships highest deck.

Carmelita and Sly took full advantage of the day, and by the end Sly had set himself on what he was going to do. During the entire trip Sly's mind set grew stronger. A few months ago he had been walking down the street when something in a shop window caught his eye. It was a ring. The ring had a gold band and a three diamonds on it, the two smaller diamonds were normal while the center was a rare blue diamond. Sly bought that ring then and there, and had always planned to give it to Carmelita some day. Now, he felt the firework show at the end of the day would be the best time, but how would he do it. Kneeling down and holding her hand as he popped the question was classy, but terrible unoriginal. Sly needed a special way to do it, and then he got struck with the perfect idea.

Sly spent the first half of the couple's day with Carmelita, doing everything they could. Then, an hour after lunch Sly faked food poisoning and was able to ditch Carmelita. He quickly found Bentley who was in the process of beating Penelope in a game of chess. After some quick (hello)'s and (how are you)'s Sly got to business as he said, "Bentley, I need you to find something out for me."

Bentley looked up after moving his queen and said, "What is it Sly?"

Sly replied, "I need to know who is doing the fireworks tonight. Is it possible you can find that out for me?"

Bentley chuckled as he checkmated Penelope and said, "Give me five minutes." Bentley was true to his word. It took him five minutes to find out who the captain had hired to do the fireworks show. The show was usually done by the cruise company's own staff, but they were short handed for that cruise and brought on a temporary specialist to do the fireworks show. Bentley was extremely surprised to find out that they had hired the Panda King to do the fireworks for the cruise. Sly didn't remember the Panda King, but he hoped that he would be willing to do him a favor.

Bentley got Sly the Panda King's room number, and he was knocking on the door 15 minutes later. A loud voice bellowed that it was open and Sly slowly entered. He saw the Panda King in his monk robes meditating on his bed. Panda King raised a lazy eye to see who it was, and then both his eyes flew open with surprise when he saw Sly standing in his door way.

Sly was a little worried when the Panda King got up the bed and stomped over to where Sly was, but instead of pounding Sly into a pulp he gave Sly a crushing hug. He told Sly how happy he had been since the Cooper Vault job. About 4 months earlier his daughter finally met a respectable guy that she liked, and they were quickly wed. This freed up a lot of time for Panda King, so he tried to become a firework artist again. Unlike the first time, his fireworks quickly became world renowned as the best fireworks ever. He had even developed fireworks that could take the shapes of almost anything, from flowers to grand Chinese dragons.

Sly smiled at this and then asked, "So, you can make them take any shape."

Panda King nodded and said, "Yes, it is a very delicate process, but I have become very good at quickly producing those glorious fireworks."

Sly smile widened as he said, "Then, can you do something for me?"

Panda King replied, "Speak your request Cooper."

Sly said, "I want you to make a few fireworks. One needs to produce the Cooper Gang logo. I believe you know what I am talking about."

The Panda King nodded his head and Sly continued as he said, "Second, I need you to make one that when it is fired off it will spell out a sentence for me."

The Panda King eyed Sly for a second before he asked, "What sentence do you wish to be spelled out in my glorious fireworks?"

Sly replied, "Will you marry me?"

The Panda King quickly put two and two together and congratulated Sly on finding someone he loves. His curiosity soon got the better of him and he asked Sly who the lucky lady was.

Sly smiled a devilish grin as he said, "I believe you know her. Her name is Carmelita Montoya Fox." The Panda King did a double take, but then smiled again and promised Sly he would have the fireworks ready. Sly thanked him again, and as he left he asked, "Oh, one more thing Panda King. You feel like being my gang's explosives expert again?"

The Panda Kind put his hands together and said, "It would be an honor to work with you again Sly Cooper, and maybe this time it won't be so short lived."

Sly nodded and left Panda King to his work of creating the very special fireworks. He caught up with Carmelita a few minutes later and they spent the rest of the day in pure bliss. When it came time for the firework show Sly lead Carmelita to the perfect spot to watch the fireworks. As the music played over the cruises PA system the fireworks dazzled the entire ship. Once it was done almost every passenger went to be except for Sly and Carmelita.

Sly just smiled as he said, "Wait Carmelita, I don't think its over yet."

Carmelita gave Sly a quizzical look until she heard the sound of another firework being let off. When it exploded the Cooper Gang logo lit up the sky, and Carmelita instantly knew that Sly had planned something. She was about to turn and chew Sly out when she heard another firework shooting through the night sky. She watched as it exploded and the falling sparks formed a message for a few seconds before they disappeared into the night. When she turned around Sly was down on one knee, and he was holding out a small black fabric box. Carmelita's hand was shaking as she took the box and gently opened it. She gasped as she saw the beautiful ring, and while she was caught up in the rings beauty Sly said, "So, what is your answer?"

Carmelita brushed away a tear and then swung her arms around Sly's neck and kissed him passionately on the lips. Once their lips parted she said, "I will marry you Sly Cooper. Be you officer of Interpol of master thief I will marry you."

Sly smiled and said, "You know something, I was hoping you would say that."

The cruise ended too soon for anyone's taste, but it had proved beneficial in more ways then one. Penelope and Bentley had spent some quality time together, growing even closer. They had gotten Panda King back with the gang, and Sly and Carmelita were engaged. Eclipse met them at the dock, and was quite surprised when he got his first glimpse of the Panda King. The awkward moment passed quickly and Eclipse asked how the cruise was.

Carmelita just giggled a little and held out her hand. Eclipse looked down and saw the ring around Carmelita's finger. It took a few seconds to register what it meant, but soon Eclipse just smiled and said, "I should have know better then to make you two share a bed. Oh well, I guess it was going to happen sooner or later."

Eclipse lead the 5 cruise goers to the old warehouse that he had been working in. When he pushed back the hanger doors the other 5 awed at what he had accomplished. He had completely redesigned the Iron Pegasus train. It looked like an old steam engine, but instead of train wheels the pistons were attached to four large fans, two on each side of the engine. They also saw that Eclipse had designed a fuel car, and 8 passenger style cars that could fly with the train. The entire train was painted a dark blue and on the engines front the Cooper Gang logo could be seen.

Eclipse motioned toward each car in row and said, "Behold, the flying train I call Sky Serpent. The engine is, of course, the completely redone Iron Pegasus. Going from the engine back the first car is operations. It has all the comforts and technical equipment of a safe house. It includes a built in slideshow projector, viewing screen, computer with a direct thief net uplink, and much more. The second car is a living and recreation room. This thing fly a bit slower then the modern aircraft, so I planned it so you can walk between the cars while in the air and offered many ways to entrain yourself. The living room has satellite TV, some very comfortable furniture, multiple game systems and games to go with them, a large bookcase with a wide selection of novels, and something to tailor to any interest you might have. The third car is the kitchen and dining car, enough said."

The others followed Eclipse as he walked down the side of the train and stopped by the forth car and said, "Now, we start seeing our passenger cars. Each passenger car is designed so a hallway goes around three of the four edges of the car. This design allows the maximum amount of floor space for the actual bedrooms, and making it possible to get a little privacy. The forth car we will give to Sly and Carmelita, the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Cooper. The fifth car we will give to Penelope and Bentley. The sixth and seventh cars will have to be split up between the other Cooper gang members. They have been split in the middle so that each member has an individual room. The final car you notice is shorter. It is a one person car, and where I will be staying. It offers a direct link with the front of the train. This will allow me to either run to the front or end of the train in the event I have to take emergence control of the train's flight path."

Bentley looked at the train for a bit before he said, "I have to admit, this is amazing. I bet Murray would love this."

Eclipse smiled as he said, "Well, you are in luck Bentley, because are next stop is the tourist hot spot Drag Strip Island where they will soon be holding the Inter-Professional league races for the title Champion of the Track. Due to Murray's recent winning streak he is one of the favorites to win the title."


	6. Drag Strip Island

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 6

Drag Strip Island

After getting everyone settled in and making final adjustments to trains flight sensors Eclipse opened the hanger doors, and then over the trains PA system said, "Welcome aboard passengers. I am Eclipse and will be your engineer for this afternoon. Now, since this isn't an airline, I am going to cut to the chase. We are leaving now, and I would suggest putting your cheeks in a seat." The entire gang felt the lurch as the train began to rise of the ground and another lurch as the train began to move forward. In 15 minutes Eclipse had gotten them up to a safe cruising altitude. He leveled off the train as he announced over the PA system, "Attention passengers, this is your engineer speaking. We have currently reached our cruising altitude. At our present speed and direction we will arrive at Drag Strip Island at 7:00 tomorrow morning. The time is now 5:00p.m., and I invite all passengers to head to the dinning car where I will be serving dinner as soon as I finish cooking it."

In a few minutes everyone was sitting at the large table located in the train's dining car. Eclipse entered from the door near the front of the train and quickly disappeared into the kitchen. The others waited about 20 minutes, Sly and Bentley catching up as best they could. Penelope was fiddling with one of her many remote controls, and the Panda King was talking with Carmelita about how he created the fireworks Sly used to propose. At 5:25 Eclipse came walking out of the kitchen with several plates floating behind him. The plates gently glided through the air, and landed in front of everyone. Eclipse took a seat and then smiled as he said, "Dinner is served."

Everyone enjoyed the meal thoroughly. Each plate had a good sized sirloin steak, a serving of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a small bit of salad. Everyone ate the meal, and enjoyed it thoroughly. After the meal Eclipse smiled as everyone complimented him on the dinner. After that was all said in done Eclipse turned to Panda King and said, 'Excuse Panda King."

The Panda King turned and said, "What can I help you with Eclipse?"

Eclipse replied, "I was hoping you would lend me your expertise as I design the train's defense systems. Right now all we have is a make shift shield generator that wouldn't last long in a fight. Once we have landed I can create a more appropriate one, but I still believe the train would benefit from having a few weapon systems."

The Panda King smiled as he said, "I can see why you chose for me to assist you with the defense systems. My fireworks are both beautiful and destructive. I shall assist you in your planning."

Eclipse smiled as he stood up and said, "Thank you, let's head to the operations car. There is a copy of the train's blueprints up there." Eclipse lead the Panda King out of the dining car, but before he left he turned to the others and said, "Oh, Bentley, Penelope. I have something for you two to do as well."

Penelope stood up and said, "What you need Eclipse?"

Eclipse said, "There is a laptop in your room, and it has a copy of the train's stage 2 blueprints. I need you to create a program to operate the trains systems while it is in its second stage. I am many things, but a great programmer isn't one of them."

Bentley wheeled away from the table and said, "Don't worry. We have it covered."

Eclipse was about to leave and catch up with Panda King when Sly asked, "Do you have something for me and Carmelita to do?"

Eclipse shook his head and disappeared through the door that lead to the first car of the train. Bentley and Penelope left through the door that led to the passenger cars. This left Sly and Carmelita alone, and to say the least they weren't to upset about it.

Sly and Carmelita headed through the dining cars door and into the living car. They both sat down on the couch and Sly began to flip through the channels until he found one a very romantic movie. He and Carmelita were soon snuggled together on the couch watching the movie. Once the movie was over Carmelita looked up toward Sly and said, "Well, its getting kind of late. You want to head to bed?"

Sly smiled mischievously before Carmelita quickly cut him off and said, "Oh no you don't. Not until after we are officially married. You got that Cooper."

Sly faked an emotionally hurt face as he said, "Carmelita, you cut me to the quick. I have only the highest respect for you wishes, minus the ones that will end up with me serving a life sentence in jail."

Carmelita shook her head and said, "Now quit kidding around, or I'll sleep out here on this couch."

Sly smiled and raised his hands in defense as he said, "Okay, I'm done. You are right though, let's hit the hay. No telling what we will have to do to get Murray back on the team.'

Carmelita looked over to Sly and asked, "Do you remember anything about him or Bentley."

Sly shook his head and said, "No, but from what you and Eclipse said, I am sure I will remember them both soon."

Carmelita nodded her head and the two got lost in each others arms as they slowly made their way toward their own sleeping car.

In the train's operation car, Eclipse and Panda King were making many adjustments to the Sky Serpent to make it ready to defend itself. They had already designed a much more powerful shield generator, and some firework turrets that could be operated from any computer in the train. They were just working on the operation cars new laser turrets when Panda King said, "I notice that this train has many things that seem to have no use. Tell me, do they hold some secret purpose."

Eclipse just smiled slightly as he drew a line on the plans and said, "You could say that, but I would rather have it be a surprise."

Panda King huffed a little as he said, "You seem to be full of surprises Eclipse."

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "I guess it come with the job. My father and his father also were known to have their surprises when they were guardians of the map."

Panda King made a quick change to his firework turret design as he said, "So, Cooper told me that you said you knew his father. Is that true?"

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "I did know him before that night. He had actually attempted to steal the map himself. He actually succeeded in taking it and getting away, but about an hour later he came walking back to the temple gates, coming back to return the map. Evidently, he just wanted to steal it to prove he could steal what many thought was impossible to get to. Now that he had proved his point, he returned the map, and we soon became pretty close friends. I was pretty shook up when I heard he had been murdered, but that is in the past now. His son is proving to be a much better thief then even his father could have hoped."

The Panda King nodded and said, "I must agree. Sly Cooper is an amazing person, who can even make me, one of his worst enemies, an alley."

Eclipse nodded his head and drew one final line on the trains blueprints as he said, 'There, I think that's everything we should need. Thank you again for your help Panda King."

The Panda King began heading for the door, "It was my pleasure Eclipse. Now, I wish to go meditate and then get some sleep."

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Good night. I need to work on a few things, and then I believe I will also go to sleep."

The Panda King nodded his head and left the operations car. Eclipse rolled up the trains blueprints and slid them into the shelf where they were stored. He cleaned up the car a little bit and then went up front to the engine. He checked everything over twice before he was satisfied. He had to make sure they came in at just the right angle, otherwise they would surly be detected.

A few years ago a terrorist group attacked Drag Strip Island, and since then they had built an extensive security system to stop all unauthorized air and sea travel. Eclipse had found a blind spot in security systems sights, and it was just wide enough for the train to slip through. He turned and left the engine room, and began to head toward the back of the train where his sleeping car was. As he passed the other's rooms he was happy to hear they were all sleeping soundly. He got to his car, and was asleep in about fifteen minutes

The next morning, Eclipse was awoken by the train's flight path alarm. He checked the clock and saw that it was only about 3:30, and that they were no where near Drag Strip Island. Eclipse ran to the front of the train in a minute flat and began checking the Sky Serpents GPS navigation system. He then looked out the front of the train's window and saw that they must have caught a wind current, because Drag Strip Island was looming on the horizon. He checked all his equipment and saw that they were going to miss the islands blind spot. Due to the systems design the blind spot constantly circumvented the island. Since they were so far ahead of schedule the blind spot they were shooting for was on the other side of the island now, and if they took the time to go around the island to reach it they would surly be spotted. Eclipse quickly did a scan of the island to see if there was another hole they could exploit, but there was none. They would be at the island in 30 minutes, and there entry point was being watched.

Eclipse quickly got onto the trains PA system and said, "Attention, Attention. I hate to wake you up at this hour, but it seems we are thirty minutes away from Drag Strip Island, and if we don't think of something we are going to get shot down once we get within range."

Eclipse ran back to the operations car and was happy to see everyone came running into the operations room. Sly quickly asked what the problem was, and Eclipse explained how their blind spot moved around the island in a clockwise fashion. Bentley looked at the hologram Eclipse was using and said, "I think I could try and hack their system really quick, and create a hole, but due to our time limit I can only hack a few towers."

Eclipse looked at his hologram and said, "Then you need to hack towers 5, 8, and 11. They are the towers responsible for finishing the dome like scanner array. With them down a hole will be created above the center of the island. It is are only chance."

Carmelita said, "Now wait. Are you saying we are going to dive straight down in this thing and pull up before we can all go splat on the ground?"

Eclipse smiled weakly as he said, "It's our only option right now."

Sly paused a second and then said, "Eclipse, Bentley, you guys get to work. The rest of use will get this thing ready to go vertical. Lets get moving."

The group separated quickly and began to do the risk dive maneuver. Bentley got onto the operation cars computer and began hacking the first of the three towers. Eclipse went up into the engine. After a few minutes everyone felt the train start to tip up as it began to gain the necessary altitude to make the make the dive. Sly, Carmelita, Panda King and Penelope went through every part of the train. Luckily, Eclipse had already secured all the train's furniture down with very sturdy bolts, but many of the items like desk drawers, and cabinets needed to be sealed shut. They also need to secure anything that could break if it fell from one end of the train to the other. Sly, Carmelita, Panda King and Penelope were just finished and heading back to the operations car when they heard Eclipse's voice over the PA system say, "Okay everyone. Bentley has told me that we have our hole. Please get ready for this train to go vertical. The seats in the operations room have some seat belts, so I suggest going there quickly. I start tipping this thing down in one minute."

Everyone but Eclipse was soon seated in the operations car, belted down to there seats, waiting for the train to pull the dangerous move. They could then feel the slight upward tilt of the train start to shift. In a few seconds the train was level, and they could then feel the tilt and speed of the train slowly increasing as the train began it decent. In a few minutes they had achieved the vertical position they need, and they the whole gang was holding its breath.

Up in the engine Eclipse watched the train's sensors as the engine began to pass through the hole in the islands defense web. He could have pulled up right then and their, but he doing that might cause one of the cars to move out of position and alert the island to their presence. The ground was getting dangerously close when the final car cleared the hole and Eclipse pulled hard on the train's flight control. Eclipse watched as the slowly began to level out. The ground kept getting closer and closer, but they finally leveled out just when they were about a foot away from city streets. Eclipse quickly got the train a little higher in the air and then flew it over to the part of the island where the train could hide.

The island was broken into third. On the northern most part was the world's biggest racing complex. In the middle was the medium sized town that was made up of the tracks staff, and their families. The city also had the large hotel that housed all the tourists who come to the island to watch the races. On the southern 3rd of the island was a slightly dense forest. That was where Eclipse was planning to park the train. He found a break in the trees just the right size for the train to land, and Eclipse exhaled a very relieved breath once the Sky Serpent was on the ground, and the engine was off.

Eclipse made his way to the operations car, and about broke out in laughter seeing how frazzled even the Panda King looked. Soon, everybody was calmed down, and Bentley got everyone set for his trademark slide show.

Bentley wheeled in front of everyone and said, "Alright, after that very daring entry into the island, the rest of the operation should be a cake walk. Now, we know Murray is here for the races. The top 10 vehicles from the Stock Car, Van, Truck, and other racing circuits come here to see who the best of the best is. The current champion is our old enemy Muggshot. How that guy has already gotten out of jail is beyond me, but he will be an even bigger threat to this operation then he was during the Aces Dogfight competition. Our first task is to find Murray. The racers stay at the track until after their races. These dorms are very comfortable, but we can't get into them with out one of the card keys. This is why I have talked Eclipse into entering the Sky Serpent into the races. It seems that a team dropped out, and they were in the uncommon vehicles circuit. A racing circuit that allows anything that can go around the track to enter. Now, Eclipse is going to spend the first few days before the competition modifying the Sky Serpent so it will ready for the race. Unfortunately, that is where we run into our first problem."

Panda King spoke up and said, "What is this problem you speak of?"

Bentley flipped the slide and said, "To make the Sky Serpent legal we need to get it one of this hard to come by altitude inhibitors. This device will keep the train at a constant height above the track. Unless we can show the racing judges we have one of these devices installed they will not allow us to race. So, here are the first things we need to do. Sly, you and Carmelita are going to go on recon and try and find Murray. You also need to take pictures of the track, the racer dorms, and local hotel. Sly and Eclipse are the ones who will be driving the Sky Serpent, so they will have to stay in the racer dorms. Now, Muggshot doesn't know Panda King has joined our side. So, Panda King, we need you to get in contact with Muggshot, and see if you can convince him to make you his second driver. This will give you access to his racer, and in the likely case that Muggshot intends to cheat, you can take him out of the race for use. We may not even have to race, but to get Murray back with the gang, we may have to help him either win or lose the big race."

Everybody nodded their heads and Eclipse, Bentley, and Penelope quickly left the train and began to make the necessary changes to the Sky Serpents engine to make it race legal. Sly, Carmelita, and Panda King left the train a few minutes later. The Panda King dressed in a professional business suit so know one, but Muggshot could recognize him. Sly was dressed in his usual thieving attire and Carmelita was dressed in a special something she had purchased. She was dressed in a pair of black pants and soft souled black boots. She had her usual holster on, but over top of it a black jacket. She had even painted her shock pistol black and taken off her Interpol badge. The final touch was a she put thin black strip of fabric, a lot like Sly's mask. Sly had to literally bit his tongue to keep from whistling out when he first saw Carmelita. When she was dressed like that she truly looked like a thief, and it just drove him nuts.

The trio made their way into the medium sized town. It looked like a modern city, with many of the shops focusing on the tourist trade brought around by the track. Sly and Carmelita split ways with the Panda King, and began to make their way toward the race track.


	7. Old, but not so Good Times

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 7

Old, but not so Good Times

The Panda King made his way to the track dorms. Along the way he looked around and saw that a few shops were selling some generic brand fireworks, and he scoffed at the fireworks poor quality. His mind did not hesitate much on the thought of his trade, for he was soon at the track. The security guards asked what he wanted and he replied, "I wish to speak with a Mister Muggshot. I am an old friend of his."

The security guard looked Panda King over a bit and said, "Very well. I will give him a call. What is your name?"

"I am the Panda King."

The security guard nodded his head and went over to the security phone. He dialed a number and waited for a few seconds. He talked into it for a bit, and then returned to where Panda King was waiting. He motioned toward the racer dorms and said, "You're clear. Muggshot will meet you outside the racer dorms. Please make it quick. The racer curfew is in an hour."

The Panda King looked down toward the security guard and said, "Why is there a curfew. I do believe that all your racers are sensible adults."

The guard shrugged and said, "It is to prevent teams from sabotaging each others vehicles."

The Panda King nodded his head and began to walk toward the racer dorms. As he got closer he saw the front door to the dorms open and Muggshot walk out. Panda king was amazed in how little Muggshot had changed. If anything, he had become even more muscular, if that was even possible. He walked up to Muggshot and said, "Muggshot, old friend. It has been far too long."

Muggshot turned and said, "I didn't want to believe it, but looky here. The great Panda King, I thought you would still be in jail. You never were the one to think up escape plans."

The Panda King nodded and said, "Yes, if I remember correctly it was Clockwerk who made all the plans."

"Yep, Clockwerk was a genius. I sure do miss him. We used to pull of some of the biggest jobs, and he didn't care how we did it. People grew to fear the name Fiendish Five."

The Panda King said, "Yes, it was good times. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end."

Muggshot shook his head and said, "Who would have thunk the Fiendish Five, the definition of big time crime, would be taken down by one skinny raccoon and his pitiful excuse for a gang."

Panda King faked a frown as he said, "It is a mystery, but how have you been old friend. I heard you almost won the Aces competition."

Muggshot growled as he said, "I could have beaten the Black Baron to, but Cooper showed up again and ruined everything, him and that witch of a cop."

The Panda King nodded and he and Muggshot talked about the old days for a while. They had just finished having a laugh at the expense of Mrs. Ruby when Muggshot said, "Hey, I have something that can top that. Remember the night when the five of use went and got Sly's father."

The Panda King fell silent as he said, "I remember that night. It was pitch black out when we all met outside the quite house of Clockwerk's hated enemy. I never truly understood why Clockwerk insisted we attack the elder cooper, but I do now."

Muggshot looked over to Panda King and said, "Really, you found out why that old owl made use beat the stuffing out of that scrawny raccoon."

The Panda King nodded and said, "I found out from a very reliable source that Clockwerk had been bested by one of the first Coopers in the long family line. He then began to envy the Cooper families thieving skills, believing all their success came from the book we took from the house."

Muggshot spoke up and said, "You mean that Theivius Racamagucos thing."

"Yes, the Theivius Raccoonus. That was also why Clockwerk replaced his flesh and bone with the heartless machine that we knew him for."

Muggshot gruffed and said, "So, let me get this straight. We went and attacked that old raccoon, and then his son came and trashed us because Clockwerk and had a thing against them. I wish we known that earlier. I might not have shown up that night if I had know all that was so he could destroy some old guy's reputation. Oh well, it was fun. That guy was fighting like nothing we did hurt him, but that just made the fight all the better. It also made the moment when he finally feel all the sweeter."

The Panda King restrained himself from attacking Muggshot. He had to admit it, ever since he joined up with Sly he had regretted what he had done that night so long ago. He quickly regained his composure though and said, "So Muggshot, I hear you are one of the favorites to win the race this year."

Muggshot smiled as he said, "Yep, I have the sweetest ride that you've ever seen. She is a real beauty."

Panda King nodded and said, "So, do you have a shotgun for the race. I do believe the race rules require you to have two people in the vehicle."

Muggshot nodded his head and said, "Yep, I have one of my thugs riding with me, but it sounds like you might be interested in the position."

The Panda King nodded and said, "It would be a great honor to work with you again Muggshot."

"Then consider yourself hired. I'll have the track staff get a room ready in the racer dorms for you."

Panda King nodded his head and turned to leaver as he said, "I will see you tomorrow then." Panda King walked away as Muggshot reentered the racer dorms. As the Panda King rounded the corner he made sure that no one was around before he reared back and punched the side of the building. As he pulled his fist down he thought, "_I regret my actions that night, and all he can do is comment on how fun it was breaking that poor man's spirit. You may have been my friend back then Muggshot, but I have changed with time while you remain thoroughly rooted in your old ways. I shall endeavor to show you the error of your ways, be it by example or by force."_

With that the Panda King began making his way back to the Sky Serpent where Bentley, Eclipse, and Penelope were just finishing the modifications they need to get the engine ready for the big race.

Sly and Carmelita had just finished making the reservations at the Hotel and were heading out. Sly lead Carmelita to a fire escape and they were soon running across the roof tops. They were almost to track when Carmelita said, "So, how are we going to be able to find Murray?"

Sly shrugged and said, "Well, if Bentley's guesses are right, Murray is either in his room or in his team's garage working on the van."

Carmelita nodded and said, "So, do you want to split up so we can find him faster."

Sly nodded and said, "Okay, I'll head to the dorm. Just in case we catch Murray with his pants down. You can check the garage."

Carmelita nodded her head and jumped down from the roof top and began heading toward the garage. She snuck by the inattentive guards and once she was out of their ear shot she said, "Hmm. I wondered how Sly did all his thieving without getting caught. Almost all of these guards are being completely inattentive. I could probably fire of my shock pistol and they just think it was an electrical problem with the track's lights or something." Carmelita then continued making her way toward the line of garages. She scanned the signs above the garages as she ran past. Finally she gave up and grabbed the small radio she had in her pocket and said, "Hey Bentley."

Back at the Sky Serpent Eclipse and Penelope continued to make the final adjustments to the engine while Bentley picked up the radio and said, "Go ahead Carmelita."

"What garage is Murray's team supposed to be in? There are at least 200 garages here, and I don't have the time or patience to check them all."

Bentley wheeled himself over to the nearby computer and quickly hacked into the tracks garage assignment lists. A few minutes later he radioed Carmelita back and said, "Okay, according to the garage assignments Murray's team should be in garage 117."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Thanks Bentley," as she began to run in the direction of the correct garage. She had been standing by garage number 14 when she called Bentley, so it took her a good fifteen minutes to get all the way down to number 117. When she got down there she could see that lights were on inside the garage. She put her ear up against the door and she could hear someone working on a vehicle. She was happy to find the staff door was open, and she quickly slipped in before who ever it was noticed the door had opened. She quickly ducked behind a tool box and peaked over to see the old Cooper gang get away van up on a hydraulic lift with a large purple hippo working under it, namely Murray.

After making sure no one else was in the garage Carmelita slowly got out of her hiding place and walked over to where Murray was working. Murray was so caught up in what he was doing he didn't even notice Carmelita standing beside him until she yelled, "Freeze, your under arrest."

To say the least, Murray was scared to death. He leapt at the sound of Carmelita's voice and knocked his head on the engine block. His old habits quickly kicked in and he began to run for the door, but Carmelita cut him off and said, "Sorry big guy, didn't mean to give you such a scare."

Murray looked confused as he said, "Inspector Fox aren't you here to arrest me. I mean it would make sense."

Carmelita shook her head as she said, "Nope, I am actually here because of Sly."

Murray's eyes lit up as he said, "Sly, you mean he's back. Yeah, alright Sly. I was beginning to lose hope I would ever see him again."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Yep, Sly is here, and he is my fiancé."

Murray's mind took a moment to register what Carmelita just said, but when it finally hit him it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was about to laugh at Carmelita's joke until she held up her left hand and showed Murray the ring. To say the least Murray was both shocked and happy. Shocked that Carmelita and Sly were going to be married, and then happy because that meant Bentley owed him fifty bucks. He and Bentley had made a beat a while ago that if Sly ever got the nerve to ask Carmelita to marry him what she would say. Murray thought she would say yes, but Bentley was convinced she would never agree to it.

Carmelita was about to leave Murray, who had become lost in his day dream of actually winning a bet against Bentley, which was a first for the big guy, when he noticed she was about to leave and asked, "So, how is Sly?"

Carmelita turned and said, "Well, he is acting like his old self, but he doesn't remember anything about your guy's life at the orphanage. All he can remember is his life with his father, but we are sure that we can get all his memories back."

Murray just smiled as he said, "That great. So, is that the only reason you came here tonight Inspector Fox."

Carmelita shook her head and said, "I am also here because Sly is wondering if you will rejoin the gang."

Murray's happy face quickly disappeared as he said, "Sorry Carmelita, but I have a contract with my sponsors. The only way I could cancel the contract is giving them this outrageously large sum of money, or winning this race."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Well, we will just have to make sure you win the race then. I'll talk to you later Murray."

Murray nodded his head and went back to work as Carmelita slipped out the door and began to make her way to her to the Sky Serpent to see what the gang's next move would be.


	8. Sabotage and the Sky Serpent

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 8

Sabotage and the Sky Serpent

The group had assembled for the last time at the Sky Serpents operations car. The rest of the gang's meetings would take place at rented board room at the racing track. Bentley stood in front of the group with his infamous slid show ready as he said, "Alright lets get started. We have found out that Murray is willing to rejoin the gang, but he can't until he has fulfilled his obligation to his sponsors. That is either paying them an outrageous sum of money, or if Murray can win the big race. Now, the race is broken into three parts. The first set of races are the prelims. The second set is the semifinals. Then, with only four teams remaining, we go into the finals."

Bentley paused a second and then said, "Now, except for our and Murray's team. Most teams have 5 to 6 vehicles at their disposal. That puts us and Murray at an extreme disadvantage. Now, the first race is in three days, and in that time we need to accomplish a few key tasks. First, we need to find the essential altitude inhibitors. With out that, we are illegal to compete in the races. Second, we need to even the odds. So, we are going to turn off some of the garage security systems and make it possible for the other teams to get sabotaged. With Panda King influencing Muggshot's decisions, we should be able to get him to do all the dirty work. The third job is to sabotage Muggshot's cars so that it will be a bit more level playing field when it comes to the final race. Other then that, all we can do is do our best and hope Murray will be the driver he always had."

Everybody nodded their heads and left the operations car, heading out to do their jobs. Panda King was the first to leave the forest as he headed for Muggshot's garage, ready to give Muggshot subtle nudges in the right direction. Bentley and Penelope began heading for a vehicle part shop, going to get the illusive part they needed for the Sky Serpent's engine. Eclipse stayed back at the Sky Serpent, acting as job coordinator, and finishing the final adjustment to the Sky Serpents engine. Finally, Sly and Carmelita began heading out to the other teams' garages, getting ready to lower the security systems long enough for Muggshot's goons do the dirty work.

Panda King made his way across the city to the track. He easily got by the security guards and into the racer dorms. He found his way to the board room given to team Muggshot and stepped in. Inside Muggshot was giving all his drivers a final peep talk before bed. He noticed Panda King come in and said, "King, good to see yeah. I was just about to send the boys here off to bed."

The Panda King turned and said, "That may not be wise."

Muggshot gave Panda King a look as he said, "Oh really, why is that?"

"I have heard that some of the other team's garage security systems are going to be knocked out tonight. This would give us the chance to sabotage their cars, and get the advantage in the races to come."

Muggshot smiled excitedly as he said, "Okay you meat heads, change of plans. We will stay up all night if we have to, because the less competition, the better."

Panda King smiled lightly as he dialed a number on his cell phone and said, "Agent Monarch to Mr. and Mrs. Theif. The army is ready; you may begin your work."

Sly nodded as he said, "Thanks Agent Monarch. Mr. Theif out." Sly shut his binocucom off and turned to Carmelita as he said, "So, ready to get this started."

Carmelita nodded her head as she followed Sly to the first garage. They had been able to get their hands onto the race rosters, and knew they were racing the teams in garages 23, 54, 110, 176. Sly and Carmelita made their way to garage 23 and slipped in with out detection. The main switch for the security system was behind a cage with a pad lock and a combination lock. Carmelita used her shock pistol to break the pad lock, and Sly used his gentle touch to open the combination lock. As they left the now defenseless garage Carmelita called Panda King and said, "#23, open for attack."

Panda King responded and told Muggshot, "I have just gotten word that the security system for garage 23 has been deactivated."

Muggshot grinned and said, "Alright boys, go do what I pay you overtime to do."

Several of Muggshot's goons left as Panda King called Carmelita back and said, "Forces on the way. You may move on to the next target."

Carmelita and Sly moved from garage to garage, destroying the defenses and going on to the next as Muggshot's goons came in a did a lot of damage. They had just entered the last garage when they noticed that the security was much more advance then the other garages. They had a wall of lasers that only left room for someone to jump over top of them. Then, another set of moving lasers separated the security power switch from the rest of the room. Carmelita looked over the scene a second and then said, "Sly, I'll give you a boost, and then you can shut the system off."

Sly nodded his head and in a few seconds found himself on the other side of the first laser wall. He then watched the lasers for a moment and saw he couldn't get all the way through with out being detected by the sensors. So, he used his cane, and with unprecedented speed he quickly hit the switch and then retracted his cane before it could be detected.

Carmelita and Sly were about to leave the garage when a set of alarms went off and the staff door sealed itself shut. Carmelita spun around and said, "That must have been a fake switch."

Sly, looking startled, said, "A fake switch. What that heck is that?"

Carmelita kept scanning the room as she said, "It's a new kind of security system. They disguise the real security control switch as a common item in the room. It is supposed to fool thieves by making them throw the real looking switch, alerting the system to their presence."

Sly got a worried look on his face as he said, "We need to get out of here. Is there a way to turn the system off for real?"

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "It's like one of those I Spy books. Find the one item that is even the slightest bit out of place, and that would most likely be the real power switch."

Sly and Carmelita searched the room for a good ten minutes. They knew that they were running out of time, but finally Sly noticed that a wrench was sticking out of the wall beside one of the tool boxes in the garage. Carmelita quickly ran over and threw the switch, shutting the alarms off and unlocking the staff door. Sly and Carmelita were out of the garage like lighting, and were able to duck behind a couple gas pumps as the team in question came running up to check their garage. Luckily, Sly didn't call Panda King, or Muggshot's goons would be swarming the place.

They waited for the team to leave then, while Carmelita kept guard outside, Sly went inside and turned the security system off for real this time. Sly exited the garage and walked over to Carmelita who had already called the Panda King. Just as they were leaving the scene Muggshot's goons came running and disappeared into garage 176 to do their dark dead.

Sly and Carmelita met outside the track, sly smiling as he said, "Well, that was fun. I must admit Carmelita, I probably be in big trouble right now if it wasn't for you."

Carmelita sighed as she said, "How low have I sunk that I am helping thieves."

Sly frowned slightly, but not for long as Carmelita quickly wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a loving kiss. Once their lips had separated she said, "You know what, I think I like it down low, slumming it with the criminals."

Sly flashed his usual charming grin as he said, "Now, I am not a criminal. I am a thief, which is quite a few levels above a criminal. Especially when you consider I never steal from normal, hard working, citizens." Sly and Carmelita shared one more kiss before Sly quickly flipped out his Binocucom and said, "Hey Eclipse, you need anything else while were in town."

Eclipse rolled him self out from underneath the train. He had gotten dressed in a white T-shirt and blue jeans for the greasy work he needed to do on the train. He walked over to the radio and said, "I just need that altitude inhibitor. Why don't you two go give Bentley and Penelope a hand? Panda King will be staying with Muggshot's team for the rest of the operation, so we don't need to worry about him getting back here. Once I have that part installed you and I will go enter into the uncommon vehicle division as team Cooper. At the same time, Carmelita, Bentley, and Penelope will get into their hotel rooms. That is where we stand right now. Other then that, we have to wait till tomorrows gang briefing before we can do anything else."

Sly nodded his head and put the Binocucom away. He turned to Carmelita and said, "Well, it's your call beautiful. You want to go give Penelope and Bentley a hand, or go grab a bit before we head back."

Carmelita grabbed her own Binocucom. Though she wasn't completely familiar with the devices operation, she did know how to use it to call the others. She pressed a few buttons and then looked through the viewing screen as she said, "Bentley, Penelope. You guys there."

Bentley's nasally voice came over the binocucom as he said, "What is it Carmelita. We are kind of in the middle of something."

"Do you need our help with the altitude inhibitor?"

"Nope, we are just having a little trouble hacking into the auto part shop' computers to find where they have it stashed in their warehouse. I doubt there is much you could do other then carry back for use."

Carmelita replied, "Alright, see you back at the train."

Carmelita hung the Binocucom, turned to Sly and said, "They don't need our help, so I think I will take you up on that dinner date."

Sly grin widened as he said, "Then, lets go paint the town red. I think I saw a bistro in another part of town. Think you be interested in some fine dinning."

Carmelita huffed as she said, "In this outfit. I think not. How about that burger joint on the corner?"

Sly shrugged his shoulder as he said, "I could go for a double cheese. Lead the way, I and my heart at your command."

Carmelita blushed slightly as she leapt off the roof top and slowly strolled down the street toward the diner, Sly following close behind.

Eclipse put the radio down and continued his work with the Sky Serpent. He had made several changes to the trains design. The way it stood now it looked completely normal, but that was because Eclipse was designing it so in the end he could switch between its usual operation mode and it race mode. Not an easy feet, but Eclipse felt that if he was going to make it a racing vehicle he should be able to use the design when ever he wanted to. He walked over to the computer set up outside the operations car and typed a quick command and turned to watch his work unfold.

The engine lurched a bit as it lowered hydraulic feet to raise it off the ground. The four fans that usually stuck right out the side of the train began to lower themselves. Once they were low enough they slid under the train and locked into the second position. Doors on the train's front cylinder opened up and two jet engines moved out and were attached to the side of the conductor's cab and were locked into place. Finally the trains smoke stack disappeared into the interior of the train and two long exhaust pipes extended from the front of the train, ran along its side, and ended a few inches behind the conductor's cab.

Eclipse smiled as the train set itself back on the ground, meaning the transformation was complete. All he needed to do before he take this baby to the track is unhitch it from the rest of the train, make the final calibrations on the jet engines, and install the yet to be acquired altitude inhibitor.

Eclipse continued to work for another hour, and was about to call Bentley about the inhibitor when wheelchair dynamo came rolling up with Penelope who was carrying the altitude inhibitor. As Penelope handed the final part to Eclipse he asked, "What took you two so long, and where is Sly and Carmelita?"

Bentley shrugged and said, "Hay, when a place has 20 firewalls guarding its warehouse asset records, it takes a while to get through them all. Also, Sly and Carmelita called and asked if they needed our help, but we turned them down."

Eclipse sighed as he picked up his cell phone and rang Sly's cell phone. That was how the team's communication system works, depending on where and when you need to call someone determined if you used the Binocucom system or a cell phone. Since Eclipse was guessing they were out on a date or something he went with the latter. The phone rang a couple times and then Sly picked up and said, "Hello."

Eclipse said, "Sly, where are you and Carmelita right now."

Sly replied, "At the diner on the corner of 20th and Slip Stream Boulevard."

Eclipse nodded and said, "Well you can stay there. We'll come pick you up."

"Does that mean you have the train's modifications done?"

Eclipse smiled and said, "Yep. This thing is now a lean, mean, racing machine. We'll swing by and pick you up. Then will take Penelope, Bentley, and Carmelita to the hotel where they have some rooms and will go get ourselves set up at the track."

Sly nodded his head and said, "Alright, we'll be waiting." He then hung up the phone and turned back to Carmelita. They had both just finished eating the main course and had ordered their desserts when Eclipse called. Just as Sly hung up the waitress came back with the desserts. It was two simple slices of white cake with chocolate frosting. Carmelita was about to take a bite when she said, "So, it sounds like we aren't heading back to the train."

Sly nodded his head as he said, "Yep, Eclipse has the Sky Serpent ready for the race. He will be swinging by with the train engine. He'll first drop you, Bentley, and Penelope by the hotel before he and I head over to the track to get team Cooper registered."

Carmelita nodded as she finished a bite of her cake and said, "So, is that all who are on our team. Or, do I have a roll in it."

Sly smiled a little devilishly as he said, "We could use a cheerleader."

Carmelita choked on the bite of cake she had in her mouth a second. After clearing her throat she shot Sly a deadly look and said, "Do you have anything else, because I would rather have a dinner date with Clockwerk then be a cheerleader."

Sly chuckled a little and said, "I think Eclipse would be the one to ask. He and Bentley are the only ones that have read the rules for the race. I do believe you can help with something though."

Carmelita eyed Sly as he smiled a grin that made her worry just what this job was. She didn't have to worry long because they could soon hear the sound of the Sky Serpent coming down the street. The pair stepped out of the Diner after they had paid their bill and saw Eclipse leaning against the train smiling as he said, "So, what do you think."

Sly smiled as he walked down the side of the train and said, "It looks great Eclipse. The jet engines are a nice touch, but what was the problem with the train's old design."

Eclipse walked over to Sly and said, "The old design was focused on torque. It had to be able to keep going while towing all the other cars and driving their hover fans. This new design takes a lot of the power that drives the hover fans and leaves what is necessary to keep the train its comfortable 6 inch cushion of air. The rest of that power is sent to these new jet engines. They were originally operated inside the train, but putting on the sides of the engineer's cab, it increases their efficiency and power by 300."

Sly nodded his head and Carmelita just shook her head. She couldn't believe how easily guys could get worked up over a thing as simple as new vehicle parts. She walked over to Sly and tapped him on the shoulder as she said, "Can we get going?"

Eclipse turned and said, "Yes, let's get going."

Sly quickly said, "Wait, I needed to ask you something Eclipse."

Eclipse turned and said, "What is it?"

Sly walked over and whispered something into his ear. After a second Eclipse nodded and began to smile evilly. Carmelita's curiosity finally got the better of her and she said, "Okay, what's so funny."

Eclipse continued to smile as he said, "Calm down Carmelita. It isn't anything bad. Sly just reminded me that our team has to have a set business manager to be eligible for some of the free services provided by the track. You feel like filling the position?"

Carmelita let out a relived breath as she said, "I thought Sly was trying to pass off his cheerleader idea. I would be much more willing to be the team's official manager during the races then a cheerleader."

Eclipse smiled as he said, "I'll explain what your job's responsibilities are while we are taking Bentley and Penelope to the hotel. Also, what is this cheerleading idea? I think I like the sound of it better."

Sly was about to open his mouth, but Carmelita quickly put her hand over his mouth and glared at Eclipse. Eclipse just sighed and turned to get into the train, planning to ask Sly about the whole thing later.


	9. Destiny

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 9

Destiny

The night before Eclipse had entered the team's application to take the empty spot in the races bracket. This morning, Eclipse came strolling into the team dorms where he, Sly, and Carmelita were staying. Once he found them talking about Carmelita's responsibilities he smiled and said, "Well its official. Team Cooper is in this thing for the gold, but remember, we are just shooting for the silver."

Sly nodded his head and said, "That's great. Carmelita and I just finished the paperwork to designate her as the team Cooper manager, giving her access to the some of the more restricted part of the track and getting her a room in the racer doorms."

Eclipsed smiled as he said, "Great, I am heading back there to get the Sky Serpent an appointment with the race comities mechanics. They still need to verify that it is within the parameters specified by the race rules. I can take it and get it filed."

Sly nodded his head and passed the paper for Carmelita to sign really quickly before he passed it off to Eclipse and he left for the tracks administrative offices. The offices were a ways away from the track. It stood about 15 stories tall and sat right beside the fence line that separated the track from the city. It was a very well organized building, every department getting its own level. The first 5 stories were open to the general public. Levels 6 -9 was only for staff, racers, and their teams. Levels 10-13 were only for the buildings staff and the team managers. Finally, levels 14 and 15 were only for the track staff, and even some of them could only go their on a rare occasion. Eclipse went into the medium sized entrance hall and walked up to the front desk. A poodle was working the phones when she finally noticed Eclipse standing there and said, "I am sorry. Is their something I can help you with?"

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "I need to file this form so that our team manager can get her manager access badge. I also need to get some of the tracks mechanics down to my team's garage to give our racing vehicle the certification it needs to race."

The poodle nodded her head and said, "I could do that for you, but I am really busy right now. I know our mechanics have an opening in about two hours. Would that be alright?"

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "That would be fine."

"And for which team is this for?"

Eclipse replied, "Team Cooper".

The poodle nodded her head and said, "There, the mechanics will be at your garage in about two hours. Next, can I ask you to do me a favor? Would you mind taking your access badge form up to the 8 floor? Follow the signs to the security command center. They can get you all squared away."

Eclipse thanked the poodle and went to the elevator. He was soon up on the eighth floor, and stepped out of the elevator. To say the least Eclipse felt a little uncomfortable around all these people in business suits when he had gotten dressed in his usual white robes. He walked down the plain white halls until he got to the security command center. He went into the office and saw it looked a lot like a small police station. He walked over to one of the desks and got the attention of a lion that was typing something on his computer. Eclipse held up the form and said, "Can you tell me who I give this to so my team's manager can get her track access badge."

The lion looked up from what he was doing and said, "You got him. Let me just take a look at that thing." The lion looked over the form for a few seconds, and then opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out one of the plastic badges, took the picture of Carmelita the team had taken for the badge. Soon, Eclipse was walking out of the security command center with Carmelita's access badge tucked in one of his pockets. He walked through the now empty halls. He guessed that he had just come up here when it was the staffs break time. Now everybody was in their offices doing their work.

Well, not everybody. As Eclipse turned the corner to start down the hallway that led to the elevators he saw someone struggling to carry a stack of papers that had to be 5 feet high. He then noticed the pile start to tip, and begin to fall over. Eclipse quickly ran up and caught the papers. He could hear a beautiful female voice saying from the other side of the stack, "Thank You. That would have been very bad if I had dropped these papers."

Eclipse chuckled as he took the papers out of the woman's hands and said, "If this pile was to tip over it would be the equivalent of an avalanche. How about I carry these to your office for you?"

The female's voice sound happy as she said, "Thank you. That would be a great help. My office is just down the hall." Eclipse followed the sound of the girl's voice down the hall. She opened the door to her office and Eclipse set the paperwork down on a table beside the door. He then turned and got his first look at the woman he had helped. She was a snow leopard. Her fur was as white as newly fallen snow with light grey spots that helped distinguish her species. She stood about as tall as Eclipse, if only a few inches shorter. She was dressed in a black business suit with a knee long skirt and high heels. Her hair was black and it reached down to her hips. She wore it straight down. Finally Eclipse noticed her eyes were a dark black color.

For some reason Eclipse suddenly found him self at a loss for words. He had never seen such a stunning creature. He finally snapped back to reality and said, "Well, I am glad I was able to help you Miss…"

The snow leopard giggled a little and said, "My name is Destiny Smith."

Eclipse smiled and bowed slightly as he said, "Destiny, my name is Eclipse, and it has been a pleasure to meet you." Eclipse then took up Destiny's hand and gently kissed it before he turned and left the snow leopard's office. Once he was in the elevator he let out a slow, calming breath as he thought, "_Now what the heck happened in there. That is the first time I have ever been at a complete loss for words, but what beauty. I can't believe any one thing can be so beautiful."_

Eclipse left his train of thought their as he left the elevator and the track administration. Back on the 8th floor, in the office of Destiny Smith, a certain snow leopard was still standing where she had been when Eclipse had kissed her hand and left. Finally she went into her office and over to the wall sized window she had. She saw Eclipse walking across the grassy lawn that separated the administration building from the track. As he disappeared behind the line of team garages she said, "Now, why can't I meet a guy like that more often. All these racing meat heads have the IQ of a tree stump. Except him, he was so kind and courteous. I have never met a better gentleman, and I didn't even get his phone number. Destiny, you can be such an idiot some times, but yikes. How did that guy send such shivers up my spine, just from kissing my hand?"

She was ripped away from her thoughts as she turned to see the stack of papers Eclipse had carried in was about to topple over again, and she had to run over to prevent the avalanche of paperwork.

Eclipse went over to the Team Cooper garage where his precious Sky Serpent was being stored. The train took up most of the space in the garage, but there was enough space to keep a few tool boxes, spare parts, and still have room to get around. Eclipse went back to the small bathroom the garage had, and changed out of his white robes and into a pair of old blue jeans and a white shirt. He never worked on mechanical stuff in his white robes, those things were almost impossible to get clean once you got them all greased up.

Eclipse did his own run over of the train before he heard a knock on the garage door. He went over and opened the door and there were three people standing outside the door. One was a pig in a pair of overalls and old shoes. The second was a wolverine in a white button down shirt, black pants, and black shoes. The third, to Eclipse's shock, was Destiny Smith.

Eclipse quickly brought him self back to reality and said, "I assume you are here to examine the Sky Serpent to make sure it is race legal."

The wolverine nodded his head and said, "Can you please bring it outside the garage so our mechanic can take a look at it mechanically. I also need to see a copy of the train's plans to make sure it is designed properly for the high demands of being a race vehicle."

Eclipse nodded and pressed a button beside the normal door that opened the garage's large bay doors. He walked back to the Sky Serpent, and got it started and out of the garage in about a minute. He set it down a few feet away from the line of garages, and turned the engine off. He got out of the vehicle and the pig quickly opened up one of the train's side doors and began to examine the vehicles inner workings. Eclipse handed the plans to the wolverine, and he began to give them the once over.

While the other two were wrapped up in what they were doing Eclipse slowly walked over to Destiny and said, "What are you here to do?"

Destiny turned and said in a professional tone, "I am here to make sure you are not going over the set budget the track has given you. I am one of the few field accountants the track has on the pay role."

Eclipse chuckled as he said, "So, was that avalanche prone pile of papers budget reports for several of the teams here, or something else."

Destiny's eyes widened a bit as she said, "It's you; you are that guy who helped me with that pile of papers. It's Eclipse, isn't it?"

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Yes, and you are Mrs. Destiny Smith if I am not mistaken."

Destiny blushed a little as she said, "Actually it is just Miss Destiny Smith. I'm not married."

Eclipse said, "How can such a pretty thing not a have a fine husband?"

Destiny just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just never met the right guy, that's all."

Eclipse chuckled as he said, "Let me guess, you aren't into guys who get their kick from hearing a car rev its engines."

Destiny nodded her head and said, "That's right, I can't stand all these racers who think they are all that and a bag of chips just because they have a fast car and a couple of trophies."

Eclipse nodded his head, and the pair continued to chat while the wolverine and pig continued to go over every bit of the Sky Serpent. About 15 minutes later the wolverine walked over and said, "Well, everything seems to be in place. I can tell you; this is a very well designed hover train."

Eclipse smiled and said, "Well thank you. My associates and I have put a lot work into it."

The wolverine nodded his head and said, "Yes, I can see that. Come race day I am seriously going to put a few bucks on you to win. I hope you don't make it an unwise investment."

Eclipse chuckled as he said, "Will just have to wait and see."

The wolverine nodded his head and then motioned to Destiny and the pig. Just before she was about to leave Eclipse paused a second and then said, "Hey, Destiny."

Destiny turned and said, "What is it?"

Eclipse paused a few seconds and then said, "You feel like grabbing a bit to eat later, or something like that?"

Destiny smiled slightly as she said, "I think I owe you that much for your help earlier. Meet me in front of the administration building at 6:00"

Eclipse smiled as he said, "Very well, I shall see you then Miss Destiny Smith."

Destiny blushed slightly as Eclipse bowed a bit and then went into the Sky Serpent to back it back into the Team Cooper garage. Once the bay doors were closed Eclipse jumped at least 6 feet into the air. He had to admit, his heart was thumping when he asked Destiny for a date, but what do expect when it's a guys first date. Being the guardian of a temple deep in the Indian jungle makes it pretty hard to find anyone, let alone some one as attractive as Destiny, to even talk to. Eclipse quickly began to do everything else he had to do that day so that when 6:00 rolled around, he would have no reason to be late.


	10. Dinner of Fear

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 10

Dinner of Fear

Sly and Carmelita stopped by the team's garage around 5:30. They had just got inside when they heard Eclipse shout, "Who is it?"

Carmelita and Sly looked around for a second and then saw Eclipse was underneath the train working on something. Sly walked over and said, "Hey, Eclipse. How is she looking for the race tomorrow?"

Eclipse slid out from underneath the train and said, "She is looking good Sly. I just finished the last few adjustments the train needed to be ready for the race. Now, if you will excuse me I have somewhere else to be at 6:00. Eclipse grabbed a rag and then disappeared into the garage bathroom. Sly and Carmelita looked at each other for a second before Sly asked, "Can you think of anything Eclipse would be doing at 6:00."

Carmelita shook her head and said, "No, everything is ready for the race. There is nothing needing to be done until we actually have to race."

Sly scratched his head a second and then decided to call Bentley. His and Carmelita's suspicions were verified when Bentley told them that Eclipse had nothing else he needed to do before the race. They were both about to call Panda King and asked him when Eclipse came out of the bathroom in a pair of black shoes, black dress pants, and a grey button down shirt. Sly and Carmelita gave him some strange looks, but he didn't even notice as he left through the garage door.

Sly smiled and said, "I do believe this merits further investigation."

Carmelita raised an eyebrow and said, "You mean you want to snoop into Eclipse's business."

Sly nodded his head and said, "Yep, care to join me?"

Carmelita smiled as she said, "You know it Sly."

Sly and Carmelita quickly left the team garage and followed Eclipse as he walked toward the tracks administration building. Carmelita and Sly hid themselves in the branches of a nearby tree, and Sly took out his Binocucom to get a better view of the scene.

Eclipse just stood outside the administration building. He checked his watch and saw it was 5:57. He paced around a bit, and then heard the front door to the building open. He turned and saw Destiny standing there in her business attire. She walked over to Eclipse and said, "Well, shall we get going?"

Eclipse nodded his head and the pair began to head for the nearest security gate. The guards let them pass and didn't even notice the two shadows rail walking across a rope that ran between the race track stands and a small café near the security fence. Eclipse led Destiny toward a small diner a few blocks away from the track. It was a simple family restaurant, but classy enough for a first date. The pair were soon seated and were looking at menu's

Outside Sly and Carmelita were grinning to each other. They knew that this was pure gold, and they need to get everybody in on it. Sly snapped a few pictures as he said, "Man, I give Eclipse credit. His date is a very nice looking woman."

Carmelita huffed a bit as she said, "Be careful Cooper. I won't have you eyeing other woman, considering we are fiancés."

Sly smiled as he said, "Oh Carmelita, I may say someone is beautiful, but you are the more beautiful one in my eyes, no contest."

Carmelita blushed a bit as Sly laid his Cooper charm on nice and thick. Carmelita finally nudged him and said, "Now you quit it. Let's go grab a bite, so we can see just how Eclipse operates."

Sly nodded his head and the pair jumped down from the roof. They walked into the restaurant and asked the waiter if they could have a certain open table. It was on the opposite side of the dinning area, giving them easy view of Eclipse, but making it hard for him to notice them.

Eclipse and Destiny had just finished ordering there food, and the waitress was walking away. They sat in silence for a few seconds and then Destiny said, "So Eclipse, do you have a last name?"

Eclipse shrugged his shoulder as he said, "Yeah I do, but the only one who has ever used it was my mother when I was in such deep trouble."

Destiny giggled a little as she said, "Oh yes, I can hardly count the number times my mother called me by my full name when I was in deep trouble."

Eclipse nodded his head as he said, "So, where are your parents now?"

Destiny finished laughing as she said, "My mom and dad are in Spain, enjoying their retirement. How about you, where are your parents?"

Eclipse feel silent a second before he said, "My mother died when I was young, and my father died about a year ago."

Destiny fell silent for a second before she said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up any bad feelings."

Eclipse looked up and saw Destiny was getting up to leave when he caught her hand and said, "No, please stay. You had no way of knowing, I don't blame you for wondering about my family. If it is anyone's fault it's mine because I brought up the subject."

Destiny paused a second and then sat back down. The pair continued to talk about everything they could think of, books, movies, hobbies, and other such interests. Sly and Carmelita were about to leave the two alone when a commotion could be heard coming from the front part of the restaurant.

Eclipse turned in his seat when he heard the Panda King's voice saying, "Muggshot, please stop this madness. Why are we attacking this restaurant?"

As Muggshot came strolling into the dinning room where Eclipse, Destiny, Sly, and Carmelita were he said, "Geez Panda King, you have gotten soft over the years. Besides, we'll be out of everyone's hair once I find a certain someone.'

Muggshot scanned the hall, luckily not noticing Sly and Carmelita duck behind there menu's. He continued to look over the room until he saw Eclipse. He smiled an evil grin as he walked up and said, "See I have already found him."

Destiny leaned over to Eclipse and said, "Eclipse, what is going on?"

Eclipse put a reassuring hand on Destiny as he stood up and said, "You are looking for me sir."

Muggshot chuckled in a low tone as he said, "Yeah, I'm looking for you, light weight. You are Team Cooper's driver for the race, right?"

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Yes, that is me."

Muggshot quickly picked Eclipse up by the scruff of his shirt and said, "Then, we have a problem. You tell me where Cooper is right now, or all break you in half like a tooth pick. It was because of your team I got thrown in jail at the Aces competition, and I think it is only fair that I knock your team out of the running for both ruining my casino in Mesa City, and taking away my victory in the Aces competition."

Eclipse struggled against Muggshot's tightening grip. Destiny stood up and was trying to get Muggshot to let go when Muggshot turned to her and said, "Now stay out of my way girly." Muggshot then used his free hand and threw Destiny across the room. She was halfway across the room when Eclipse began to glow. Suddenly a white blur shot out from Eclipse's body and caught Destiny before she could hit the wall. Destiny looked up at her rescuer and saw that it was a white furred Eclipse.

Muggshot was now having trouble with this. He looked at the now black furred Eclipse in his hands, and the white furred one who had just caught Destiny. He finally revealed his confusion by saying, "What is this, there are two of bone heads."

Lunar, the black furred Eclipse, smiled as he said, "Well; now there is. I am Lunar, and that over there is Solar. We are the two haves of Eclipse's personality. We are light and dark, good and evil, and you are going to be in for a world of hurt."

With that Lunar motioned to Muggshot's right. Before Muggshot could react Solar had reared back and punched him square in the jaw. Even for his size, Eclipse was pretty strong. His punch was enough to get Muggshot to drop Lunar. The pair quickly melted back together, and Eclipse pulled out his sword and said in a very serious tone, 'Now, leave before I change my mind."

Muggshot quickly turned tail and ran out of the restaurant, not wanting to fight this guy who could out number him on will. Eclipse quickly sheathed the sword and turned to Destiny who was looking at him with pure terror in her eyes. Eclipse tried to take a step toward her, but she cringed in fear. Eclipse stopped dead in his tracks. He looked deep into Destiny's eyes, which were filled with fear. She wasn't terrified of Muggshot, she was looking at him with those fear filled eyes.

Eclipse tried to take another step, but each step he grew closer to Destiny she would cringe in fear. Finally he hung his head, turned to the waiter and handed him a hundred as he said, "This should pay for my and my date's meal." Eclipse then slowly walked out of the restaurant, turning just before he left the door to get one more look at Destiny, and then heading out into the cold night.

Sly and Carmelita walked over to where Destiny was and helped her up while Carmelita asked, "Are you alright?"

Destiny nodded her head, but Carmelita could still feel her shaking with fright. Carmelita motioned to Sly to go talk with Eclipse, and Sly was quickly out the door, following the mystic wolf. Carmelita walked Destiny back over to her table and sat her down. She got her a glass of water and said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Destiny just continued to look off into space as she said, "Think you meet a nice guy, and you find out he can split him self in two."

Carmelita sighed as she said, "Eclipse is a nice guy; its just he has a huge responsibility that requires him to be a powerful wizard."

Destiny turned and asked in a joking manner, "What, does he have to entertain a large audience next week in some casino."

Carmelita shook her head and said, "He, like the rest of his family, has to guard a map. This map shows the locations of 5 gems. The Pure Magic Gems, ever heard of them?"

Destiny nodded her head and said, "I have, I did a report on them once for school. I thought they were only a myth."

Carmelita said, "They are not a myth. They are real, as real as Eclipse is. He has to be a great mystic because he has to be powerful enough to fight the gem's power if they should fall into the wrong hands. I have seen him transform into Lunar and Solar before. I know that Solar looks like a guy you want to protect you, and Lunar a guy you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. You have to trust me though; he would never hurt those who he is trying to protect. He split himself in half to catch you, and protect the rest of the people in the restaurant."

Destiny looked over to Carmelita and asked, "So, you actually know this guy?"

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "That guy I was with. He is Sly Cooper, the Sly Cooper. He lost his memory about a year ago, and now Eclipse is helping him get his memories back in return for his Sly's help in trying to reclaim the map to the Pure Magic Gems."

Destiny looked over and said, "Has he done anything else for Sly and you?"

Carmelita nodded and said, "He probably made it possible for Sly to propose to me."

Destiny looked down and said, "It's just. One time my family was at a bank. Then, some bank robbers came in and began to shot their guns off. After a few minutes of that they got everybody into a corner and their leader came into the room. He was a King Cobra dressed in black robes. The police were trying to get him to let the hostages go, but he kept telling them that unless they let his brother out of jail, he wouldn't let anyone go. The police wouldn't budge until he made his point. He had one of his goons grab me, and bring me in clear view of everyone. He then began to cast a spell on me, it felt like I was on fire. He just smiled as I screamed in pain from the non existent flames. When he saw the police weren't budging he stopped and tried a new, darker spell. His tail began to glow a bright green, and he actually reached inside me. He began to pull my soul out, and it felt terrible. I suddenly became extremely cold, and then felt such a pain that couldn't be explained. Its like your skin was being ripped off all at once, and then the world began to grow dark as I saw my soul floating in front of me."

Destiny paused for a few seconds, trying to fight back her tears. She finally was able to say, "It was lucky for me that the police decided to give into the guys demands. I was on the brink of death when he put my soul back in my body. Even after he had been put in jail with his brother I still felt ill at home in my own body. My own skin felt strange to me, and the doctors couldn't explain why until they consulted a good natured wizard. He said that when a soul spends so much time out of its body, it tends to become detached from the body. Until the bonds were reformed, my own body would feel strange to me. It was three months before I felt like my old self again."

Carmelita eyes had widened in disbelief. She had been a constable when this had happened, and was actually on the scene. She had seen the whole thing, and knew how horrible it looked seeing someone's pale white soul starting to vanish because it has been out of its body for to long. Carmelita put a hand on Destiny's shoulder and said, "I can not make your decisions for you, but Eclipse would never do that."

Carmelita then stood up, and was about to leave before she said, "I can just offer this one piece of advice. Your world can not be colored black and white. I learned that the hard way when I though I lost Sly. He was a thief, and I was a cop. It was my job to bring him to justice, but when it came to it I never was able to. I had to make the decision, and I now know that it was the right decision."

Destiny looked up to Carmelita and said, "It was easier for you. I now can't watch a magic trick with out breaking down in fear. How can I face him when the mere sight of him makes me want to run and hide."

Carmelita turned and said in a firm voice, "It is your choice. Shall you give Eclipse, the guy you were talking with so comfortably early, a second chance, or will you let your fears rule your life."

With that Carmelita turned and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Destiny to her thoughts. Sly had caught up with Eclipse. He had gone to the team garage, and now was furiously working on some strange device on the table. Sly didn't know what it was, but he walked over and put his hand on Eclipse's shoulder and said, "Hey, you going to be alright?"

Eclipse paused with his work for a second, and then laid his head on the table and began to cry. As he wept he said, "Did you see how she looked at me? She was terrified of me. It was as if I had become a great, evil monster that threatened to devour her."

Sly nodded his head gently as he said, "I know, I saw."

Eclipse continued to cry as Sly stood there. Sly finally decided to leave Eclipse alone, and he slipped out the garage door, leaving Eclipse to cry into the night. He went outside the garage and began to make his way toward the restaurant. He waited outside for Carmelita, and then she told him why Destiny had acted as she did. Sly checked his watch and saw it was getting to be pretty late. He turned to Carmelita and said, "I don't know if there is much more we can do right now. Let's head back to the team dorms and get some sleep. Maybe we can think of something to do in the morning."

Carmelita nodded her head and the pair walked off in silence, both wondering what they could do to help Eclipse and Destiny.


	11. The Uncommon Vehicles Division

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 11

The Uncommon Vehicles Division

Sly and Carmelita went to the garage in the morning. It was day of the race preliminaries. There would be 8 races today, the top racer from each race going on to the semifinals. This would go on for today and tomorrow so they would have two semifinal races, each having 8 racers. When Sly and Carmelita stepped into the garage they saw Eclipse had fallen asleep at his work bench. Sly walked over and gave him a slight shake. Eclipse stirred a bit, and then he yawned and rubbed his eyes as he said, "Not one of my better nights. What time is it?"

Sly glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "It's about 8:30. Our race is in 2 hours."

Eclipse slowly stood up and said, "Alright. Will you two guard the train while I go to the dorms and get cleaned up and changed into my robes?"

Carmelita and Sly nodded their heads and Eclipse slowly walked out of the garage as he tried to stifle a yawn. Once he had left Sly turned to Carmelita and said, "So, Destiny has a terrible phobia of anyone who performs magic."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Yes, it is so sad."

Sly nodded his head and said, "Yeah, they looked like they were both having a wonderful time. I got the feeling they were made for each other. If Muggshot hadn't showed up Eclipse and Destiny could have gotten to know each other more. Then she might not have been so scared of him when she found out he was a mystic."

Carmelita sighed and said, "If only we could do something, but Destiny would probably run away the second she catches sight of Eclipse."

Sly nodded and said, "Eclipse would also purposefully avoid her. He would never want to scare someone, even for the smallest bit of time."

Carmelita looked around the hanger and then saw the security camera. She looked at for a few seconds before she said, "Hey, Sly. Let's look at the security tape."

Sly didn't know where Carmelita was going with it, but he went over to the security computer provided by the track and typed a few commands. It brought up the security footage from the day before and Sly and Carmelita watched. Sly fast forwarded the tape until just after he left Eclipse. The tap had some cheep audio so they could hear Eclipse crying in the. They fast forward until the timer on the video said it was around 12:30. That is when the crying finally stopped and Eclipse's breathing leveled out. Carmelita and Sly guessed that Eclipse had cried himself to sleep that night.

Eclipse was back in an hour, and Sly and he did a final check of the Sky Serpent. They then both got into the trains cab and Carmelita opened the garage's bay doors. The train slowly left the garage, and Eclipse took it to the start line so they could have a practice run on the track. Carmelita locked the garage up and then went to the team dorms. She got changed into a business suit she had bought to be the team's manager and headed up to the view box in the stands reserved for team managers.

When she got up there someone was giving the managers the final race chances as calculated by some of the track staff. Team Cooper had a 1 in 55 chance to win the race, but even against such odds Carmelita knew they would, because they were racing not for themselves, but for Murray.

Do to Muggshot's sabotage there were only 20 teams on the track with one vehicle a piece. All the other teams had to drop out because they didn't have any vehicles. The other vehicles on the track included 3 monster trucks, 2 upgraded farming tractors, 5 semi trucks, 3 hover crafts, 2 cars with side jet engines, 1 RV, 1 garbage truck, and 2 motorcycles.

Sly looked over to Eclipse who had his hands firmly on the trains controls as he said, "You sure you're up to this. I can drive while you act as the look out."

Eclipse shook his head and said, "No I'm fine." Sly was going to ask again when they could hear the warning siren that singled the race was about to start. Bentley, Penelope, and Panda King were sitting together in the stands. Panda King had gotten away from Muggshot who wanted to watch the race from beside his team's garage. Since they needed to do all the races in a couple of days, the track staff had set the race length to a short 20 laps around the small track.

That was why Drag Strip Islands track was home to any racing professional racing competitions Championships. They actually had three tracks. By changing a few dividers on the course they could make the track 2, 4, or 7 miles long. They were racing on the shortest track, the 2 mile one.

Eclipse got the train ready as the start lights started signaling the drivers. The sequence went red, red, yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow, and green. The split second the green light lit up all the racers gunned their engines and the race was started.

Eclipse was able to secure a 5th place position from the beginning of the race. He was behind a semi truck, the two motorcycles, and the garbage truck. Everyone held their positions for the first five laps, but after they were all on their 6th Eclipse made his move and passed the garbage truck. It wasn't an easy pass because one the drivers of the garbage truck saw him trying to pass he had his shot gun get into the garbage bin and start chucking full garbage bags at the Sky Serpent. Eclipse dodged as best he could and then got along side of the truck. Sly jumped on to the garbage truck and knocked team trash's shot gun out before he leapt back onto the Sky Serpent and they pulled into fourth.

As they enter the tenth lap Eclipse was about to ready to pass the two motor cycles, but both cycles were from the same team and they were working together to prevent Eclipse from passing. Finally Eclipse got feed up with it and he waited for until they got onto the tracks straight away before he gunned the hover fans to full power and flew 3 inches above the motorcyclists head's and lowered back down to the track right in front of them. Sly gave the two motorcyclists his calling cards as he and Eclipse pulled away from them, just to rub it in their faces.

Now with only 5 laps to go Eclipse was about ready to pass the semi truck. That was until he saw the truck had a couple rocket boosters. The driver of the semi turned them on, and made it impossible for Eclipse to pass him until the boosters ran out of gas, or shut off because now the semi was traveling just as fast as the Sky Serpent. Eclipse turned to Sly and said, "You feel like making a pretty daring jump?"

Sly nodded his head and used his rail walk to walk across the Sky Serpents mufflers and get onto the front of the train. Eclipse pushed the train's engine into the danger range for a second and Sly was able to jump onto the semi. He walked over to the fuel lines that fed the rocket boosters, and turned the Manuel valves off. The semi quickly began to slow down, and Eclipse pulled the Sky Serpent up beside it, allowing Sly to jump back on. They finished passing the semi as they finished the 19th lap, and they only made their lead stronger during the final lap.

Everybody cheered when the Sky Serpent crossed the finish line in first place. Panda King was giving Bentley and Penelope a death grip squeeze while Carmelita was cheering from up in the manager's viewing box. Eclipse slowly drove the train to the race tracks winner circle and Sly and Eclipse were presented their prizes. Eclipse smiled at the crowd and searched it, but he did not find Destiny anywhere amongst the cheering crowd.

In fact, Destiny had watched the race, but it was from the race control tower positioned in the center of the track. She couldn't help smiling as Eclipse took his trophy, but she still couldn't get up the nerve to even get with in 50 feet of him. Every time she tried to go to the team dorms, where she knew he was, she found an excuse to get someone else to go for her. Her heart was telling her that Eclipse wasn't like the guy who had used her as a bargaining chip, but she just couldn't control the fear that would well up inside her. She quietly left the control towers top level, and on the elevator ride down to the bottom of the tower, she cried silently to her self.


	12. SemiFinals

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 12

Semi-Finals

Now that Team Cooper was officially in the semi-finals they decided to take a day off. Though Eclipse was a little reluctant to go, the entire gang went to one of the beaches on the island and enjoyed a day of fun in the sun. Panda King spent the day relaxing in a tube on the water. Penelope and Bentley raced each other with their RC Boats and relaxed on the sand. Eclipse and Carmelita spent part of the day teaching Sly the basics of swimming. Then, Sly and Carmelita spent some time relaxing on the beach while Eclipse disappeared for a while. When he came back he had the Sky Serpent with him, and he also had a few pairs of water skis and a knee board. Everyone soon got the idea, and with Eclipse driving the Sky Serpent the team enjoyed a few runs at water skiing and knee boarding.

The day went by to quick for anyone's tastes and it was already the next day, and Sly and Eclipse had a race to enter. They were not looking forward to the race because they would be racing against Murray. They knew that if they couldn't get to the finals they need to make sure he did. In the race there were eight vehicles. The racing line up consisted of the Sky Serpent, Murray in the old Cooper gang van, 2 stock cars, 2 stock trucks, 1 other from the stock van class, and a motorcycle from one of the other Uncommon Vehicle class races.

Sly poked his head out the Sky Serpent's window and yelled, "Hey Murray."

Murray looked over to Sly and said, "Hey Sly, good to see yeah, but what are you doing in the Sky Serpent."

Sly smiled as he said, "We entered the races to help you win. We need you back with the gang buddy. I need you and Bentley to help me remember our lives at the orphanage."

Murray nodded his head and said, "So, you want to double team these suckus."

Sly nodded his head and said, "You take first will take second and will call it even."

Murray gave Sly a thumb's up and they got ready as the start lights began to flash. With the green light the race began. It was on the 4 mile track and there were, once again, twenty laps. They had twice the amount of time to get Murray into first and themselves into second, but they were also racing better vehicles and drivers. The Sky Serpent had worked its way into a third place position and Murray was right behind them using their slip stream to keep up.

Eclipse got as close as he could to the second place driver, a black pick-up truck with a jet engine positioned in its truck bed. Eclipse was having a hard time passing the black truck because when ever the truck driver pulled in front of the Sky Serpent, the force of the jet engine made the Sky Serpent have to fall back. Eclipse played cat and mouse with the truck for 5 laps when he finally caught a break and was able to get beside the truck. The truck driver then started to play dirty because he began trying to force the Sky Serpent into the side rails.

Luckily for Eclipse and Sly, Murray came up on their other side, and with both the Sky Serpent and the Cooper team van pushing against the black truck they were able to make him back off and they took the 2nd and 3rd place positions. The only one in front of them now was the other vehicle from the stock van class. It was a white van with no apparent additions. This surprised Eclipse because even if they came from the stock van class, in these races they were allowed to make a few modifications to make the vehicles faster.

Eclipse didn't wonder this for long because as they got closer to the white van its roof opened up and the 2nd driver came rising out of the van behind a machine gun. Eclipse quickly activated the Sky Serpents energy shields before the guy could unload his rounds, but now the Sky Serpent was stuck behind him because the energy shield only guarded the front of the train when it was in its race mode. Eclipse passed a message to Sly and Sly motioned for Murray to pull up beside the train. He shouted to Murray, "Mind if I get a ride. The guy in front of use has a machine gun turret, and the Sky Serpent can't pass him now. If you can get me on to that van I can take out the turret and then Eclipse can get along side of it with the Sky Serpent and make him back off."

Murray nodded his head and pressed a button on the van's dash board. A small hook raised out of the vans roof, perfect for Sly to hook his cane to. Sly quickly latched his cane to the hook and Murray began to pass the Sky Serpent. Eclipse began to pressure the white van to distract the guy on the gun turret.

The diversion worked, and Murray was able to get up right beside the white van. Sly jumped off of the Murray's van and into the white. There were sounds of struggle and then Sly jumped back out and landed on the front of the Sky Serpent. In a few second smoke could be seen coming out of the white van, and it began to slow down. Murray and Eclipse quickly got out of the van's way and went to finish the race, Murray in first and the Sky Serpent in second.

Sly and Eclipse still went to the winners circle, but this time to cheer for Murray, and watch as he was presented his trophy for winning the Semi-Final race. Eclipse was cheering when he noticed the long black hair of Destiny walking behind the temporary stands the track had set up. While Sly was wrapped up in what he was doing Eclipse slipped off and quickly went to where he had send Destiny. He widened his senses and found her walking beside the garages. He ran on the other side of the garages, planning to get ahead of her. He reached the end of the row of garages and ran to the front of them. He almost ran straight in to Destiny, but she heard foot steps and stopped a few feet short of where Eclipse ran to.

Eclipse waited to see her reaction, but he could already see the fear building up in her eyes. He raised a hand, trying to reach out for her, but she backed up as the fear took hold of her. Eclipse stopped and brought his hand down as he said, "Please Destiny, why are you so afraid of me? I have done nothing to make you fear me. All I want now is to understand why."

Destiny was about to scream and run away when she saw the pain in Eclipse's eyes, and she got the feeling he was really torn up about the whole thing. Now that she thought about it, what kind of guy would he be if he wasn't concerned about why he scared her? All he knew was something about him scared her to death, but he didn't know what or for what reason. Destiny swallowed her fear enough to say, "Ask your friend, Carmelita. She knows why I am so terrified of you."

Eclipse's eyes began to tear as he said, "Please, won't you tell me. I don't want to be the thing you fear Destiny. If anything, I want to be friend, or something closer then that."

Destiny's fear weakened as her heart began to scream at her to just tell the guy the truth. Finally, Destiny's heart won out, and she told Eclipse about the whole bank incident. When she was done Eclipse sank down to his knees as he said, "So, the reason I scare you is you are terrified of mystics, those who cast spells in any way."

Destiny nodded her head. Telling Eclipse about the incident had made it easier for her to stand there near him, but she still had the over whelming fear he would suddenly cast some spell. Eclipse then slowly stood up, and with tears in his eyes he said, "Thank you Destiny. I will leave you alone now. I hope you have a good life." With that Eclipse walked away from her. Destiny ran around the corner Eclipse went behind, but he had already disappeared. Destiny went back to her office, and just sat down on her desk when she looked over to the mirror hanging on her door. She frowned at her own reflection as she thought, "_What have I done. Eclipse only wants to get close to me, but because of my fears I pushed him away and ran away from him. Now, he is making it so I have no reason to fear, because he will never come to bother me again. I should be happy, but my heart is aching." _Destiny then looked out her window and said to her self, "I think I have made a huge mistake."

On the other side of the track, in the team dorms Eclipse had entered into his room. He shut and locked the door before he flopped down on his bed. Eclipse's father had always said that their magic was a great gift, but at times could be a great curse. He now knew what it meant. His heart was in pieces, and all he could do was lie in his bed, and try to remember the one good memory he had of Destiny. There dinner date before Muggshot came in a ruined everything. As Eclipse eyes grew heavy, and sleep overtook him he thought, "_Muggshot, you will pay. It is because of your evil that Destiny now looks at me with such terror in her eyes."_


	13. The Finals

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 13

The Finals

Eclipse woke up the next morning with a massive headache. He had been having the same nightmare all night. He had been standing in a field, with Destiny smiling and enjoying his company. Suddenly she starts to get a fearful look on her face. Eclipse looks down at his fur and it is beginning to turn black. Not a shiny black like Lunar's fur, but a pitch black. He then felt an uncontrollable urge. He wanted to hurt Destiny. He wanted to rip her to shreds for fearing him. He was about to do it to, but then he would always fight the evil urge and end up cursing himself. As the curse began to turn him to stone Destiny turned and ran away from him, disappearing into the blackness.

That dream replayed itself about five times before Eclipse woke up. While thinking about this he didn't even notice he had gone through his morning routine. He was dressed and heading out to the track. The big race was today, and it was a long one. It was 25 laps around the tracks 7 mile course. He was looking forward to crushing Muggshot in the race, but knew he had to make sure Murray wasn't crushed in the process.

Eclipse met Sly at the garage, and they made a few tiny tune ups to the Sky Serpent before Eclipse started her up, and went out to the track. In the final race it would be Murray, in the pull position. Behind him it would be Eclipse in the Sky Serpent. Behind him would be Muggshot, and the Cooper gangs spy, Panda King. Finally there was supposed to be a forth racer, but he never showed up. Eclipse wondered if that was because Muggshot had 'convinced' the fourth guy to drop out of the race.

It didn't make much difference. The fourth guy was in a stock van while Muggshot proved a much more dangerous opponent in his tank. Yes, Muggshot had overhauled an actual tank to make it just as fast as the Sky Serpent, and still able to fire off its turret. The Panda King was the one manning the tanks cannon, while Muggshot worried about the driving. Bentley had planned it that if Muggshot began to play dirty they would instigate operation "Rattlesnake".

Operation Rattlesnake worked like this. If Muggshot began to play a little too dirty then Eclipse would drive the Sky Serpent close enough to Muggshot's tank for the Panda King to jump aboard the Sky Serpent. With out his turret man Muggshot would be defenseless. That is when Panda King will launch some of his fireworks to the Sky Serpents roof, firing them off and destroying the tanks turret. With Muggshot exposed Sly can jump in and leave a rattler. It's was a special bomb Bentley designed to shake Muggshot's tank down to its bolts. Making it fall apart on the race track. With out Muggshot it would be a simple drive for Murray to take first place, and team Cooper to take second.

The race was soon underway and things were going as planned. Eclipse had spent a little time dodging the poorly aimed shots from Muggshot's turret. Eclipse had convinced Murray to hang back until they had finished with Muggshot. Eclipse had just pulled the train up beside and Panda King had jumped across to the Sky Serpent when they heard Muggshot bellow out, "Hey, What happened to Panda King."

They then saw Muggshot stick his head out of the access hatch on the tank and he noticed the Panda King waving to him from the Sky Serpent. Muggshot began to grind his teeth before he yelled, "Why you no good, to timing, traitor. I thought you showing up here at the same time as Cooper was a little suspicious. Good thing I planned for something like this."

Muggshot disappeared for a second and then came completely out of the tank and took hold of the cannon. He smiled as he said, "I installed an auto pilot on this baby, just in case I need to go and get my hands dirty in the middle of a race." Muggshot aimed the cannon, but Eclipse braked quickly and the shot missed the Sky Serpent by a few inches. Eclipse quickly brought the train right behind Muggshot's tank as he said, "All right, time for plan B."

Eclipse flipped a switch on the train's dash board and the others felt a shock come from the front of the train. The Cooper gang logo split down the middle vertically and swung open to reveal a laser cannon that was hidden in the train. Eclipse flipped open a small panel and as he pressed the button said, "This is for Destiny."

Muggshot had the deer in the head lights look as the cannon powered up and he said, "Oh crud!" The cannon fired and took out Muggshot's rear treads. His tank began to go out of control and it careened off the track near the tracks control tower. Muggshot stumbled out of his tank. He shook of his slight head ache and saw someone watching from the other side of the tower. He smiled as he quickly scooped the person up and headed to his teams garage. It was the twentieth lap when Eclipse had brought Muggshot down, so it wasn't long until Murray was standing in the winners circle, holding up the first place trophy, and smiling the biggest smile he could. He was happy he had won, but even happier that he was going back to his favorite job of all, being the muscle and getaway driver for the Cooper gang. Eclipse, Sly, Carmelita, Penelope, Panda King and Bentley had all shown up and were cheering there hardest for Murray. That was until someone fired off a loud shot. Everybody turned to see Muggshot standing a few yards away. He was on top of another one of his team's tanks, this one slower but more destructive. He had something held tight in his hand, and it was Destiny.

Muggshot shouted out, "Cooper, make your choice. If you value this girl's life, the scrawny wolf needs to come up here and take her place." As a final threat, Muggshot fired his gun right at Eclipse. He Eclipse tilted his head and the bullet just grazed his fur.

Destiny looked down from Muggshot's crushing grip, and she saw Eclipse standing there, his fur on end. The sky began to darken, and a strong wind began to blow as Eclipse continued to growl a low angry growl toward Muggshot. Sly and other began to back off as they began to feel a strong ocean of magic energy flowing from Eclipse. Then, Eclipse began a slow march toward Muggshot. As he drew closer Muggshot noticed that Eclipse's eyes were cold hard. For the first time since his childhood, Muggshot was actually scared of someone like Eclipse.

Before Muggshot knew it Eclipse was a few yards away, close enough for Muggshot to get a clean shot with his gun, but before he could reach for it Eclipse made his move. He bent low and then jumped up onto the tank. In one quick motion he drove his fist into Muggshot's jaw, turned and kicked him hard in the gut, caught Destiny when Muggshot dropped her, and jumped clear of the tank. He set Destiny down on the ground and then turned toward Muggshot who was rubbing his jaw. He spat a piece of a tooth out before he growled and said, "Alright, you want to play hard ball. Let's play."

With that Muggshot jumped off the tank and pulled out his two guns. Eclipse continued to gaze coldly at Muggshot as he said, "Destiny, get out of here. I don't want you to get caught in the cross fire." Destiny nodded and ran over to where Sly and the others were watching. Eclipse continued to stare Muggshot down as he pulled his sword out of its sheath. Muggshot raised his guns to fire, but never got a chance. The second he moved Eclipse darted toward him with unprecedented speed and cut the guns in half.

Muggshot looked down at his broken guns and then to Eclipse. That is when Muggshot knew he couldn't win and turned to run away, but when he tried to move his legs he couldn't. He looked back to Eclipse who had knelt down and placed his hand on the ground. Muggshot then looked at his feet and saw his legs were being tied up with thick vines. He struggled at the vines and then lost his balance, falling flat on his face. He rolled over and looked up to the sky, but found Eclipse's sword tip pointed right between his eyes.

Eclipse was fighting the temptation to end it then. To kill the man who responsible for making Destiny have such fear in her eyes, but he sighed as he realized that it wasn't truly Muggshot's fault. Destiny would have found out sooner or later, and he had no right punishing Muggshot for it. With that he pulled the sword back and drove it in the direction of Muggshot's face, only to drive it into the ground a half an inch away from Muggshot's head. Muggshot looked at his reflection in the blade before passing out. Eclipse pulled the blade from the ground, put it in it's sheath, and walked over to where Sly and the others were standing. He looked around the group and saw Destiny had already disappeared, but he had expected as much.

Once he was closer Sly walked up to him and asked, "Are you alright Eclipse?"

Eclipse nodded his head before he lowered it and said, "Forgive me Sly, I let my rage get the better of me."

Sly sighed and said, "It doesn't matter. You took control in the end, and you kept your hands clean."

Eclipse sighed as the Sky's began to let out a cold downpour as Eclipse said, "The only reason I stopped is I didn't want to become what Destiny saw me as. A monster that uses magic to hurt others."

The other feel silent for a second before Eclipse looked up and said, "So, where is Destiny? Is she alright?"

Sly motioned behind Eclipse as he said, "Why don't you see for your self?"

Eclipse turned around and saw Destiny standing a few yards away. Eclipse looked her over quickly, and was happy to see she was no worse for were. He was about to walk over to her, when he saw the fear starting to appear in her eyes again. Eclipse stopped dead in his tracks, and thought, "_Nothing has changed, she still fears me." _Eclipse turned his back on Destiny, and began to walk back to the Sky Serpent.

Destiny watched as Eclipse turned and began to walk away. There was a war waging in her mind, and she didn't know which would win. The feelings she had developed for Eclipse and her fears were conflicting in her mind. Would she go after him, and hope he never became what she feared, or would her fears win out and she would never be able to see him again.

Eclipse had taken about 20 steps when he heard Destiny yell, "Eclipse, wait."

Eclipse turned and saw that Destiny was holding something in her hands. He felt around his neck and noticed the medallion that was the map temple's key was gone. He looked back up at Destiny and saw that she was holding the medallion in her hand. He then went stiff as a board as Destiny began to walk toward him.

Destiny was fighting the urge to turn tail and run with each step she took toward Eclipse. She was now three steps away from him. She paused a bit, and then took the three steps very slowly. She held the medallion out to Eclipse, and waited to see what he would do.

Eclipse looked down to see the medallion's chain had been broken by Muggshot's bullet. He was about to take the medallion out of Destiny's hand when he changed his minded. He slowly reached down and grabbed her other hand brought it up to the medallion. He then gently closed her hands around the medallion and said, "You keep it."

Destiny looked down and said, "Are you sure"

Eclipse nodded as he took it out of her hand and went to place it around her neck. As he lowered the chain around Destiny's neck, Destiny felt the chain get a comfortable warm before Eclipse let go and the medallion stayed in place. Destiny looked to where the chain should have been broken, and saw that it looked as if it had never been broken. She looked up to Eclipse who smiled and said, "Magic is generally neutral. It is the person who controls it that determines if it will harm or heal."

Destiny began to lean into Eclipse, and then paused for a second. She then took the final step that brought their bodies into contact, and they shared a long embrace. Destiny was looking up into Eclipse's eyes, as he was looking into hers. Eclipse saw the fear, which had once filled those eyes, start to dwindle. While, at the same time, Destiny saw the sadness in Eclipse's eyes get replaced with a sense of joy.

The gang spent a few days on Drag Strip Island. Murray got in contact with his sponsors, getting his contract closed and returning to his rightful place as a member of the Cooper gang. Destiny pulled a few strings and got Eclipse permission to bring the Sky Serpent's passenger and service cars to the track for their needed modifications. Eclipse, with Murray, Penelope, and Bentley's help, added another car to the train. It was a garage car for Murray's beloved van. It had everything a high class garage needed, and would unload the Cooper gang van at a moments notice. The second modification Eclipse need to make was he needed to add the Panda King's firework turrets, and a few other defense systems. The final modification was a bit of an unexpected one.

Eclipse was working on the garage car's hover fans in some faded blue jeans and black tank top when he heard someone walk up. He slipped out from under the car and saw Destiny standing there with some papers in her hand in her usual business suit. Destiny helped him get up and then offered the papers. Eclipse looked at her and then took the papers. He read them over a few times, not sure what to make of them. He then looked up to Destiny. She just was standing there, rubbing her legs together trying to relieve some of her nervous energy. Eclipse just smiled as he walked over to the train's entrance and motioned for Destiny to follow him. He walked through the dinning and living car. He entered the operation's car to see Carmelita and Sly looking over a few wedding books Bentley had printed off for them.

Sly noticed Eclipse enter and said, "Hey, are we all set to move out."

Eclipse shrugged his shoulders as he said, "It may be a few more days. It seems something has come up."

Sly raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What came up?"

Eclipse smiled as he handed Sly the forms Destiny had given to him. Sly skimmed them and then realized they were job applications. From what the forms said, Destiny wanted to join the Cooper gang and be the gang's accountant and tax assessor. Sly thought about it a second. It actually wasn't a bad idea. All of the gang had jobs to do in the field, and even then Bentley would always act as the team's job coordinator. He also knew that even Bentley, with his high IQ, had troubles with some of the government's tax forms that they just couldn't seem to avoid. He looked over the forms one more time before he looked over Eclipse with a stern look. Eclipse began to worry until Sly's serious face soon turned into a devilish grin as he nodded his head and said, "She's hired, just tell her that along with her accounting and tax assessor jobs she will be the teams home base coordinator. I hope that is all right.

Eclipse was about to answer when they both heard a low scream of glee coming from the living car. Eclipse turned and smiled as he said, "I do believe it will be alright. So, I will be needing to make a few additions to make room for are knew member."

Sly nodded his head and said, "Just try and keep it as cheap as possible. I would like to have some money left over to pay for this wedding Carmelita wants us to have.

Carmelita elbowed him in the shoulder as she said, "Now you be quite, you are the one who wants to invite every thief you've met. I just want to invite my family."

Sly shrugged his shoulder and said, "Fine, the wedding I want us to have."

Carmelita nodded her head in satisfaction as she said, "That's better Sly. Now, what color should my brides maids wear?" Eclipse left Sly and Carmelita to finish planning their wedding, and found Destiny standing outside the train, trying to hide her excitement even though Eclipse knew she was aware of what Sly had said.

He looked her over a second and then said, "All right, consider your self officially on the wrong side of the law, so the formal business suit isn't necessary."

Destiny nodded her head and said, "So, what would you suggest I wear to work each day?"

Eclipse thought for a second. He was had several thoughts crossing his mind, but he knew better then to ever let some of them see the light of day. So he sighed as he said, "I say a T-shirt and blue jeans would be fine. We are going for comfort here Destiny, and you can't tell me that you wear a business suit when you want to relax."

Destiny nodded her head as she giggled and said, "Your right, I usually don't like spending my days off in full business cloths. Thanks for telling me the dress code."

Eclipse just nodded as he got onto the wheeled board and slid under the train again. He then felt someone grab his leg and pull him out from underneath the train. Before he knew it Destiny had given him a quick kiss on the cheek before she pushed him back under the train. By the time Eclipse had gotten out from under the train Destiny was halfway across the track. He just smiled as he said, "Be still my heart, for I do believe I have been struck by Cupid's arrow." Eclipse then got back to work, humming a lively tune as he made adjustments to the garage cars hover fans. After he finished that he planned the necessary changes that would need to be made to his sleeping car. He had to enlarge it to hold two, and make two bedrooms in it, much like the sleeping cars that were currently reserved for the last two members of the cooper gang that needed to be recruited, Guru and Dimitri. Eclipse sighed as he designed a dividing wall that broke the one large bedroom into to smaller ones. He then smiled a little as he made a few changes to the plans so the wall that separated the two bedrooms was only a temporary wall. He looked at the plans as he said, "A guy can dream, can he not."


	14. Assault on the Sky Serpent

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 14

Assault on the Sky Serpent

In a few days the Sky Serpent was ready to fly, and everybody pilled in. Destiny had taken Eclipse's advice and began dressing in more comfortable cloths on a daily bases. She usually wore a pair of tight blue jeans like Carmelita's and a black short sleeve shirt. She had also started wearing the medallion Eclipse had given her around her neck on a tight necklace. Eclipse had gone to the engine while everybody else got belted into their chairs in the operations car. Eclipse fired up the engine, and smiled as all the hover fans along the train began to kick in, and the train began to hover. He pushed the engine throttle forward and the train was off. They were heading to the big apple, New York City. Recent reports had placed Dimitri there. He was either doing his skin diving work off the coast of California or keeping an eye on his night club up in New York. According to reports, Dimitri had announced that he would be personally managing his night club for the next month while his second one was being constructed in another part of town.

Eclipse gathered everyone in the operations car an hour after the train had left Drag Strip Island. Drag Strip was located several miles off the coast of Florida. With Eclipse's flight calculations, they would arrive in New York after about two days of travel, arriving in the afternoon of the second day. The Sky Serpent was faster then any car, but now the addition of the firework turrets, garage car, and the expansion of Eclipses sleeping car to make room for Destiny, it had a lot more to haul. Eclipse was planning to make upgrades to the train's drive engines once they were in New York.

Eclipse looked over the group after finishing his flight plan before he said, "So, we have a few days of rest and relaxation before we get to New York."

Sly leaned back in his chair and said, "Cool, I could go with a few lazy days sleeping."

Panda King nodded his head and said, "It will give me time to work on a new type of firework. They will be fireworks that will actually play music as they are launched off. The theme parks of the world will pay great amounts of money for my musical fireworks."

Eclipse sighed a bit and said, "That is all fine and good, but if one goes off in the train I will not be happy about it."

The Panda King nodded his head and was first to leave the operation car. Bentley and Penelope were last to leave, telling Eclipse they were going to continue their work on the Sky Serpents mode two. Murray was the next to leave, going back to the garage car to work on his van. He needed to put back a lot of the old technical equipment that used to be in the van before he converted it into a racing van. Sly and Carmelita went to their room to do who knows what, leaving Eclipse and Destiny in alone in the operations car.

Destiny was still a little nervous around Eclipse, but she decided that it would pass with time. She walked over to him and said, "So, what are you planning to do for the trip."

Eclipse looked toward Destiny and said, "I don't really know. You have any good suggestions."

Destiny looked around the room and said, "Well, I think you might want to do one thing before you get to busy with your R&R."

Eclipse puffed out a breath as he said, "Really, what have I forgotten to do?"

Destiny looked at him and then said in a sarcastic tone, "This really is a nice large train. It has ten nice big cars, plenty of room to move around in, I just wonder. Where do you plan to park this thing once we get to New York?"

Eclipse raised a hand to answer, when he realized he didn't have an answer. He quickly span around and jumped on to the operation cars computer, and began searching for some place he could park his precious train. Destiny just smiled as she walked over to Eclipse and held a small pamphlet in front of his face. Eclipse took it and read it. It was a flyer for New York's annual train festival. It would be held in an open part of Central Park. Eclipse turned around and saw Destiny smiling as she said, "My old college roommate is coordinating the event. I called her yesterday, and when I told her I knew a guy with a flying train, she practically had heart attack. We are the main attraction in this year's festival, and that means we have a place to put this train while we are in the big apple."

Eclipse got up from his seat and said, "Well, I am truly impressed. So, what kind of stuff will we have to do to get this fine parking spot?"

Destiny smiled as she said, "We get that if just bring it there. If we are willing to give a few demonstrations a day she was going to give us unlimited access to every part of the festival. That includes free food from the vendors."

Eclipse raised an eyebrow as he said, "Are we going to be able to get aboard the Sky Serpent when ever we want."

Destiny nodded her head and said, "Yes, I made that the biggest condition. If we can't have free access to it, the deal is off. I have even drawn up a legally binding contract she will have to sign before we will even agree staying there."

Eclipse smile widened as he said, "Destiny, you are an amazement. I guess I owe you one for covering my slight mental lapse."

Destiny giggled as she said, "Oh, I think I have a way you can pay me back?"

Eclipse raised an eyebrow as he said, "Oh, what would that be?"

Destiny gently grabbed his hand and said, "I know it's kind of strange, but can I learn a little magic?"

Eclipse got a surprised look on his face, but it quickly passed as he smiled widely and said, "I think I can manage that. It just matters what king of magic you want to learn."

Destiny shrugged her shoulders as she said, "Why don't you pick. I really don't have any knowledge in the field."

Eclipse scratched his head a second and then smiled as he said, "I got it. An Elementalist, You would probably be a very good Elementalist."

Destiny raised an eyebrow as she asked, "What is an Elementalist?"

Eclipse smiled as he said, "They are people who are specialized in using their mind and the natural mystic energy in every creature to move different forces of nature. The four most basic ones are Fire, Water, Air, and Earth."

Destiny smiled as she said, "I think I would like to learn to control water. I used to be an avid swimmer until I got employed at the track."

Eclipse smiled as he motioned toward the door and said, "Then let's head to the dining car. I bet its empty and we can use a pan full of water to practice."

Destiny nodded her head as she walked past Eclipse. He got in stride beside her, and felt her hand grasp his. He didn't know if she was doing it on purpose or not, but he wasn't about to say anything about it.

In Sly and Carmelita's room, Sly and Carmelita were sitting at a table and just closing their fifth wedding book. They had it finished, every part of their wedding was planned; now the only problem was finding the time and place to do it while they were trying to gather the rest of the Cooper gang up, and then steal back the map to the pure magic gems. Carmelita sighed as she sat back in her chair and said, "Now, the really hard part, telling my family that I want to marry the master thief Sly Cooper."

Sly shrugged his shoulders as he said, "Well, why don't you tell me about them. I don't believe I know that much about your family."

Carmelita looked up at Sly and then stood up from her chair and walked over to the couch they had in their room. She sat down and ran her hands through her hair as Sly walked over and took a seat beside her. She looked at the roof before she said, "Now, let me see. My father is the head of Spain's central Interpol office in Madrid. He is just a black and white as I used to be when I first started chasing you, you could say I got it from him. My mother, she is also an officer in Interpol. She works along side my father as the best criminal detective Interpol has ever seen. She is one of the few people who have a true knack for getting into a criminals mind and guessing their next move."

Sly said, "Do you have any siblings, brothers or sisters."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Yeah, I am the youngest of three. My older brother, Jason is the oldest of the three of use. He is about 35 and has his own private security company. He specializes in protecting museums and other public works. My older sister, Melody, is about 32. She is the only one not in law enforcement. She owns a flower shop in Madrid, the Spanish Rose, and it is one of the most famous ones in the city."

Sly got a sparkle in his eyes as he said, "I think I know how will tell them your getting married."

Carmelita turned and said, "What are you cooking up in that head of yours?"

Sly smiled as he said, "Well, last time I checked we need some nice flowers for the wedding, why not get them from your sister's shop."

Carmelita thought about it and then smiled as she got the idea. She reached over to the phone sitting on the end table beside the couch, and quickly dialed the number of her sisters flower shop, The Spanish Rose.

Melody was working on a floral arrangement. She was a fox, stood about 5' 10" and was dressed in the Spanish Roses uniform. Working along side her was her three employees. One was a white horse by the name of Brigit, and she was the shops accountant. She handled much of the in shop sales and keeping the place well stocked with flowers. Next was Susan, a leopard, who was a floral designer like Melody. Finally there was Kristine, a mountain lion, who was the newest employee, and usually got stuck with delivering the flowers and cleaning up the work space. Melody was in the middle of a large bouquet when the phone rang and she said, "Can someone get that?"

Brigit nodded her head and walked over to the phone. She picked it up and said, "Hello, You've reached the Spanish Rose, this is Brigit speaking."

Carmelita tried to contain her laughter as she said, "Yes, can I speak with the manager of the store?"

Brigit replied, "Yes, hold a moment please." While Carmelita waited for Melody to come on the line she realized that Melody would recognize her voice. She quickly passed the phone of to Sly as she said, "You'll have to do it. Melody will know it's me if I do it."

Sly nodded his head and listened until a female voice came over the line saying, "Hello, I'm Melody and I am the owner of the Spanish Rose. Is there something I can help you with?"

Sly replied, "Yes, I was wondering if you would mind doing the flowers for my wedding. I am getting married to the most beautiful fox, and I want the flowers to be just as beautiful."

Melody smiled as she got a sheet of paper and pen and said, "Tell me what you are looking at?"

After about thirty minutes of talking Melody smiled as she said, "I think I got everything. All I need is your name and the name of your fiancé."

Sly smiled to Carmelita, it was the part they had been waiting for. Sly went back to the phone and said, "My name is Sly Cooper, and my fiancée's name is Carmelita Montoya Fox."

Sly held the phone away from his ear when he heard Melody screaming for joy at the other end of the line. Sly quickly passed the phone off to Carmelita and she said, "Well, I take it your excited for me Melody."

Melody's happy voice came over the line as she said, "I am thrilled for you Carmelita, but I hope you are joking about who you are going to marry."

Carmelita shook her head and said, "Sorry sis, but you were just on the line with THE Sly Cooper, and I am going to marry him."

Melody sighed and said, "I am still happy for you Carmelita. Since I am not in the family business I have the right to be, but have you run this by mom and dad yet?"

Carmelita replied, "Nope that is actually why I decided to tell you first. I need at least one person on my side before I go to face them."

Melody nodded her head and said, "Don't worry; just tell me when you are going to stop by. If you give me enough time I will be able to get a hold of Jason and try to get him on our side. We will have a much better chance of swaying mom and dad if we have them outnumbered."

Carmelita said, "You work your magic Melody. It always seemed like Jason was putty in your hands. I am sure you can convince him."

Carmelita and Melody spent the next hour on the phone. At one point Carmelita turned on the speaker phone function and she, Sly, and Melody all talked for a good hour about the wedding, and how it all happened. Once Melody was up to speed she said, "Well, I am very happy for you Carmelita. I will see you when you come to town; you are coming to town right."

Carmelita gave Sly the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes before Sly said, "Sure, I bet I can get Eclipse to take us their after we get a hold of Dimitri."

Carmelita quickly gave Sly a loving kiss on the lips with a hug before she went back to the phone and said, "Will be their in a few weeks at max Melody. You don't even have to get us motel rooms. Just clear out the vacant lot beside the Spanish Rose. It is still there, right?"

Melody answered, "Yeah, it's pretty clear right now, but why do you need a vacant lot that big."

Carmelita chuckled as she said, "Oh, you will see Melody. Well, give your husband my regards."

Melody said, "You got it Carmelita, Bye." With that Melody hung up the phone and turned to her staff to say, "Okay ladies, we got some planning to do."

Carmelita shut off the speaker phone as she said, "You sure you want to do this Sly. If things go wrong you will probably end up behind bars."

Sly just smiled as he said, "I am sure your brother and sister will be able to bring you parents around. Even if they don't, I'll leave your father to you guys, and I'll take your dear mother. I can probably sway her with some of that famous Cooper charm."

Carmelita chuckled as she said, "Don't lay it on to thick Sly. I don't need mom and dad getting divorced."

Sly rapped his arms around Carmelita and kissed her gently as he said, "You are a jealous one Carmelita, but you have no need to be. I only have eyes for you, and you are the only one with keys to my heart."

Carmelita smiled sweetly and kissed Sly back as she said, "I also have keys to this room, if you catch my drift."

Sly smiled sweetly as he said, "I thought you wanted to wait till after we were married."

Carmelita just continued to smile as she said, "I can change my mind, can't I." With that Carmelita slipped away from Sly and walked over to the bedroom door that had been just barely ajar. She closed it tight and secured the dead bolt before she turned to Sly and said, "Come here my ringtail."

Eclipse and Destiny had been for a few hours in the kitchen. It was getting to be eleven, and Destiny was making a bit of progress. She was now actually able to tap into her natural mystic energy and channel it enough to disrupt the surface of the water. Eclipse smiled at her last attempt before he said, "Now I think that is enough for one day. As the old saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day.''

Destiny nodded her head and said, "You also need to get lunch going don't you?"

Eclipse shrugged his shoulder as he said, "Hey, it isn't a crime to like cooking, and over the past few days I have been able to get a lot of practice."

Destiny looked down at the pot of water and said, "Can I see you do something really fancy with the water? Just to see what I might be able to do someday."

Eclipse turned and nodded his head. He placed his hand above the water and all the water in the pan rose up as he lifted his hand up. He turned his palm upward and the water followed as it formed into a perfect sphere. He brought his other hand close to it and began to pull up with it. The water lengthened out until it looked a lot like a long thin stick. He then took hold of the water at one end and it began to melt back to his hand. After a few seconds Eclipse held in his hand a bouquet of flowers, at least the form of a bouquet. Destiny touched the water flowers and was amazed that they felt like real flowers. She even could smell them. That was until Eclipse turned the water back into a sphere, and let it drip down, back into the pan.

Destiny smiled as she said, "Now that was an amazing trick."

Eclipse shrugged his shoulders as he said, "It wasn't anything special. Now, why don't you get Bentley, Penelope, Murray, and the Panda King? I think today is a fine day for some oven pizza cooked in an instance with some fire element control."

Destiny got up, but as she left she realized something and asked, "What about Sly and Carmelita?"

Eclipse just shook his head as he said, "If I can trust my magical senses, I don't think you want to disturb them right now."

Destiny just nodded her head, not knowing what he meant as she left to get the others.

Soon, everyone was sitting and enjoying the few pizzas Eclipse had cooked up. Sly and Carmelita soon joined them and everyone was sitting and talking. That was until they all felt a great shock and the pizzas went everywhere. Eclipse jumped up and looked out the window. His face went pale when he saw some F-18 flying beside the train. Eclipse ran up to the engine and could hear the F-18 pilot's voice over the radio. Eclipse picked the radio up and said, "Please repeat, having some difficulties with the radio."

There was a pause before the F-18 pilot voice came over the radio saying, "Unidentified flying object, you have entered restricted air space. You are to follow us as we take you to the closest air force base for questioning." Eclipse looked down at his GPS map and saw they had accidentally flown through the Washington DC no fly zone. Eclipse quickly ran through all his options before he sighed, and picked the radio receiver up again to say, "I am sorry, but we can not follow your request."

The F-18 pilot responded, "Then you will be brought down by force."

Eclipse chuckled as he said, "I like to see you try slow pokes."

Eclipse then switched the radio over to the trains PA system and said, "Guys, I would hold on. This is going to get a little turbulent."

Eclipse then began to flip switches on the engines control boards while Sly and Panda King were soon up to the engine, Sly said, "What's the damage."

Eclipse kept looking over the control board as he said, "We are being threatened by two US F-18. We skimmed the Washington no fly zone, and they don't want to give us a break."

Sly nodded and got on a serious face as he said, "What can we do?"

Eclipse turned and said, "Simple, use the new firework turrets to keep those guys off our backs long enough for me to finish these engine calibrations."

Sly and Panda King nodded their heads and ran back into the train's operations car. They each hoped on to the turret computer controls, and got ready. The F-18 pilots had gotten behind the train, and were about to launch their missiles when the firework turrets came online and Sly and Panda King began to fire on the F-18s. The both aimed to miss, making it so the pilots had to swerve to stay out of the explosion range. They also shot down any missiles the pilots were able to get fired off. This continued for about thirty minutes.

Around that time Eclipse finished the necessary adjustments and he used the PA system to say, "Hold on tight. This is going to ruin our drive engine, but the Sky Serpent is ready to outrun these two flyboys." With that Eclipse flipped a final switch and the whole train began to shake as more and more fuel was sent into the engines drive engine. The train quickly began to gain speed, and soon was out running the F-18's.

By the time they reached New York, they were about ready to fall out of the sky. They had lost the F-18s, but in the process Eclipse had to burn out the drive engine. Luckily, they had enough flight time to get the train in position, and get it landed right in the center of the train festival which was being set up.


	15. The Big Apple

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 15

The Big Apple

Everyone's legs were shaking as they stepped of the Sky Serpent. Destiny looked around the train festival, and smiled as she saw a female Coyote running toward the group. She was dressed in a pair of tight blue jeans, a black tank top, and had her red hair back in a pony tail. Destiny ran up and gave her a big huge as she said, "Hey Jessica, it's been to long."

Jessica nodded her head and said, "You surprised me a few days ago when you called me about this train. Now, I admit, I was skeptical, but after seeing that thing come flying in here, I can say I am a believer. So, who is the owner of the train?"

Eclipse was about to point to Sly who was stand beside him, but Sly piped up first and said, "It is the sole property of this man here, Eclipse."

Jessica looked Eclipse over and then smiled as she said, "Well, I am truly impressed sir. If there is anything I can get for you, you just name it."

Eclipse rubbed his neck as he said, "Actually, can you tell me where I might find some spare parts. We burnt out the drive engine when we had to gun it here."

Jessica nodded her head and said, "I have a great mechanic and part dealer here at the festival. I'll have them come over and talk to you. You can order your parts through the part dealer and he can have them shipped form their local warehouse. They would be here in less then an hour. Now," Jessica turned to Destiny and asked, "Are you going to introduce me to the rest of this group who gets to travel in such a marvelous vehicle?"

Destiny turned around and said, "Sure, if you promise not to tell anyone."

Jessica shrugged and said, "If it keeps this flying train here, my lips are sealed."

Destiny nodded her head and then turned to the group. She pointed toward Sly and said, "This is Sly Cooper, master thief and leader of the Cooper gang." Destiny moved down the line and said, "Here is the soon to be Mrs. Cooper. Carmelita Montoya Fox. Here we have Bentley, a computer wiz. Next to him, his girlfriend and intellectual equal Penelope. Next to her is Murray, the teams muscle and getaway driver. Finally, we have the Panda King, firework artist and team demolitions expert."

Coyote nodded her head and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you all. I am Jessica Trickster."

After the introduction the rest of the team explored the train festival while Eclipse worked on fixing the Sky Serpent's drive engines. The group saw the whole festival in about two hours. They headed back to the Sky Serpent and saw Eclipse digging through a large metal bin. Sly called to him and asked, "What are you doing, going dumpster diving."

Eclipse looked up and shook his head as he said, "This is a bin of spare parts the festival has on hand. I was hoping to find all the parts I need in here, but I can't that last piece I need."

Sly and the others walked up and Bentley looked into the bin and said, "What part are you looking for?"

Eclipse brought his head out of the bin and said, "I need a compression seal. Here, let me show you." Eclipse walked over to the train and opened a door on the side of its engine compartment. The other peered into the door to where Eclipse was pointing. There was a small gap between the internal jet engine and an air intake valve. Eclipse turned to them as he said, "The compression seal is a hard to find size, but it was either use that part or redesign the whole train. With out that part, the jet engine will begin to overheat because it can't get any fresh air from outside the train's engine block."

Penelope looked back to the big metal bin and said, "Couldn't you just rig one up with some of the small compression seals that are in the bin."

Eclipse rubbed his neck as he said, "I could do that, but it would take a while, and Bentley told me you all were going to Dimitri's night club tonight to try and convince him to rejoin the gang."

Sly shrugged as he said, "Can't you work on it later."

Eclipse shook his head as he said, "If I do we won't full fill our promise to Jessica and the train festival. This thing needs to make a few laps around the festival's perimeter tomorrow, and even that short of flight could cause it to overheat and damage something else."

Sly nodded his head and said, "Alright, Since Bentley got us reservations for tonight we have to go, but here is the deal Eclipse. This is also supposed to be a team night on the town, so try and get done as much as you can before we leave."

Eclipse nodded his head and grabbed some of the spare parts he had set aside from the metal bin and grabbed a wrench. He was soon underneath the engine and was tinkering with the hover fan drive box. The others decided to split up for a while and meet back at the train at around 7:00.

It was 7:00 when everyone met back at the train, and began to get ready for their trip to Dimitri's night club. Around 8:00 Sly walked out of the train dressed in some black jeans and blue long sleeve shirt. Next was the Panda King, dressed in a full business suit, and making Sly think he was a bouncer. Next out was Carmelita and Destiny. Carmelita was dressed in her usual get up of tight blue jeans, a holster top, and her yellow jacket. Destiny was in a similar pair of tight pants and a dark blue tank top. Penelope and Bentley were next off the train, and the only ones who hadn't dressed up for the occasion. They were in their normal operation clothes except Bentley had decided to go with out his blue helmet. The last one off the train was Murray, who had put on a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Everyone was waiting for Eclipse until Sly noticed something moving beneath the train. He bent down and saw Eclipse was still toiling away on the train. He gotten a lot of work done, and even used his magic to form the several smaller compression seals into the one he needed.

Sly shook his head and said, "You coming or what?"

Eclipse continued to work as he said, "I am almost done with this last part. Go on ahead; I'll try to catch up with you."

Sly shrugged his shoulders and stood up. He motioned toward the rest of the group and they all headed out to Dimitri's night club. They had walked for a while and were finally on the right block. That is when they noticed the line that stretched all around the block. Destiny gawked at the huge line and said, "Will all be old and grey before we get in."

Bentley chuckled and said, "Don't worry. I contacted Dimitri a while ago, and he is expecting us. We should be able to get in right away." Bentley led the way to the front of the line where a polar bear was standing by the door. As Bentley and the others went up to him he said, "The line starts back their folks."

Bentley shook his head and said, "Sorry, but we have an appointment with Dimitri."

The polar bear eyed them and said, "So, if you are who you say you are then the password Dimitri gave you is?"

Bentley just smiled in victory as he said, "The password is greasy sweat."

The polar bear grunted a bit before he opened the door and said, "You can go on in. Dimitri will be upstairs in his private office. Trust me, you can't miss it."

The gang moved into the night club, and was instantly assaulted by the blaring music and large amount of people in the club. Panda King soon saw the stairs that led up to Dimitri's office and, acting like a human snow plow, made a path for the others to get to the stairs. They climbed the stairs and knocked on the door at the top of them. The door opened and they saw the lounge lizard Dimitri looking over them. It took him a minute to register who everyone was due to their strange clothing, but once he noticed Sly, Bentley, Murray, Penelope, and Panda King, he didn't care about the others.

He motioned for them to come in and once everyone was inside he shut the door. The room was almost sound proof, only letting in a very quite version of the music blaring right outside the door. Dimitri smiled as he said, "How is it hang bros, it has been so long since I have seen all you cool cats, and there is even some new blood in the old crew. So, who are these two fine senoritas?"

Sly motioned toward the girls and said, "That is Destiny, are new gang account, and I believe you know Carmelita."

Dimitri's eyes got wide as he screamed, "Ahhh. It is the law woman, coming here to put me away, but I tell you this. You ain't getting Dimitri with out a fight."

Dimitri was about to run for the door, but Panda King caught him and said, "Calm yourself Dimitri. Carmelita is not here to arrest you, it is quite the opposite. She is Sly Cooper's fiancée."

Dimitri waited for Panda King to set him down before he spun around and said, "You two are going to be like two cool cats in a tree. Well, I guess I have blown might top for no reason. Well, what is with this reunion about?"

Sly smiled as he said, "Well, we were hoping you would be willing to come back to the gang, be our frog man again."

Dimitri sighed as he went to his desk and said, "Now, that is what I thought you were here for. Sly, you have put this smooth lounge lizard in quite the predicament. It would be extreme if I would go back with you and rejoin your crew, but what about my hot hot Hot night club. I can't leave her to the likes of these Yankee's. They would ruin her before I stepped out the door, you hear me."

Bentley rolled up to Dimitri's desk and said, "Isn't there a way we could persuade you to rejoin. We may be in need of your abilities as a frog man to steal a very important artifact."

Dimitri scratched his chin as he said, "I might consider leaving my night club, but you would have to do one thing."

Murray scratched his head and said, "What could we do. Steal a very expensive painting or something."

Dimitri eyed Murray before he said, "Get with the times bro, I'm not on the forging scene anymore dude. I am completely legit, but if one of your crew members could be beat me in a dancing competition. Then, I might be willing to rejoin."

Sly shrugged his shoulder as he said, "Sure, we beat you in a dancing competition, and you rejoin the gang. If not, we will leave you to operate your night club, complete undisturbed."

Dimitri stood up and said, "The deal, she is struck. Now, let's get to the dance floor. So I can prove to you my sweat dancing moves can beat anything you cracker boxes can dish out."

While Sly and the other made their way toward the center of the dance floor Dimitri made his way to the DJ table. A greyhound was working the turn tables when Dimitri whispered something into his ear. The greyhound nodded and stopped the song currently playing. He then picked up a microphone and said, "Yo all you out there. We have a dance off challenge. So, everybody clear the dance floor so we can see what these guys got. On one team, we have the big cheese himself Dimitri. On the other team we have the infamous Cooper gang. Don't worry guys, even if there are cops in here, they in here to chill. Now, the rules are the crowd judges who will win the dance off. If one member of the Cooper gang can win, their whole team wins. If Dimitri can lay the smack down on all of them, which he probably will, he will be proclaimed victor. Now, let's get this thing started."

Dimitri walked out to the middle of the dance floor. Sly looked around and said, "So, who wants to go first."

Bentley shook his head and said, "Don't look at me; I can't dance in my wheel chair."

Murray said, "I have two left feet."

Penelope said, "Don't look at me. I am a Radio Control specialist. I don't know the first thing about dancing."

Panda King said, "All I know is some Chinese slow dances, and they will not win this competition."

Carmelita said, "I know some Spanish and French dances, but I would need a dance partner and the right music."

Sly looked over to Destiny and asked, "What about you?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I can dance pretty well, but I need a dance partner. I don't know any solo dances."

Sly sighed, and heard Dimitri tapping his foot as he said, "Come on now. Show me your bling and let me shine you."

Sly was about to sigh and try doing a Spanish dance with Carmelita when he heard someone say, "I am glad I got here then."

Sly turned and saw Eclipse dressed in a pair of black jeans and a white button down shirt. He looked over to Destiny and said, "Can I have this dance." Eclipse offered his hand to Destiny, and she took it before they both walked out on to the dance floor.

Dimitri eyed Eclipse before he said, "It is about time, but who is this cracker box."

Eclipse eyed Dimitri as he said, "I am Eclipse, and this is my dance partner Destiny. Do you feel like having a two on two?"

Dimitri nodded his head and said, "Sure, I can swing like that. Get ready to be showed up in front of your pretty dance partner, but this changes the rules a bit. Here are the rules. Me and my partner will lay down some funky moves to my favorite song. Then, you have to break out your funky fresh moves, you dig." Eclipse and Destiny nodded as Dimitri motioned toward a girl in the crowd and she quickly walked over and took his hand. Dimitri snapped his fingers and the DJ started playing a fast beat. Dimitri and his dance partner were soon pulling off every disco move in the book, and in perfect sequence. The only flaw was at the end Dimitri went to catch his dance partner, and when he did he fell down because of the sudden change in his center of gravity. The crowed had a little bit of a laugh before cheering for the resident champion.

Eclipse looked toward Destiny and said, "So, do you want to do something like that, or something a bit different."

Destiny smiled at Eclipse for a second before she said, "How about we try and create are own style. We have to dance to the same music they just dance to, but did you notice that it had a lot of fast drum tapping. It was like a tap dance."

Eclipse thought about the song and said, "Actually, I think was originally written to be a tap dance number, what are you suggesting."

Destiny whispered something into his ear and Eclipse smiled as he and Destiny took the dance floor. Eclipse nodded his head toward the DJ and he stepped back behind Destiny, waiting for the music to start. When it did they both began to tap dance in unison. About a third of the way through the song the audience was clapping along in encouragement as the beat began to get faster. Eclipse then jumped back away from Destiny and disappeared into a puff of smoke. Everyone watched Destiny dance alone for a second and then heard to loud pops from two sides of the roof. Suddenly, two wolves, a white furred one, Solar, and a black furred one, Lunar, came down from the rafters and began to dance with Destiny.

The crowd exploded as the trio finished the song in unison and held similar posses. Dimitri came storming on to the dance floor saying, "You cats cheated. You said this would be a two on two dance, but I count three of you."

The black wolf, lunar, smiled as he said, "Then again, you are counting one of us twice." With that, Lunar and Solar melted back together in a slightly bright light and Eclipse was standing beside Destiny, smiling a mocking smile as Dimitri tried to find a reason to disqualify him and Destiny.

Finally, Dimitri gave up and shouted, "All right, I know when I am licked. These two fine, fine dancers are the champions of this little dance competition."

Everyone in the club exploded with cheering at the announcement. Sly, Carmelita, and the others were cheering and running up to Destiny and Eclipse. Destiny was jumping with glee. As the others began to enclose them in a circle of congratulation Destiny's excitement ran away with her. Before she realized what she was doing she had swung her arms around Eclipse's neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She quickly let go and started talking excitedly with Carmelita while Eclipse stood as stiff as a board. That one quick kiss on his cheek had sent shivers through out his body, but before he could fully register the event in his mind Panda King had picked him up and set him on his shoulder.

The gang, which now included Dimitri, spent about 2 more hours at the club celebrating Eclipse and Destiny's victory and that Dimitri was back with the gang. The only one who didn't stay for long was Eclipse, who had to go back to the train to finish the repairs and upgrades. Destiny sighed slightly as she watched Eclipse leave, but then was pulled into dancing with Murray. Destiny watched as Sly, Carmelita, Bentley, Penelope, Dimitri, Murray, and even Panda King loosened up and began to dance to the music. As she watched the others dance she sighed. She wished she could have one more dance with Eclipse, but then she remembered that after New York, they were going to sunny Spain for Sly and Carmelita's wedding. She decided right then and there that she would share another dance with Eclipse.

Eclipse walked down the city streets, alone in the busy crowd. His mind was caught up as he remembered his dance with Destiny. He then fast forward to the part he knew he would never forget. Though it may have been done in the excitement of the moment. Destiny had kissed him, and he liked it and hoped it would not be the last time. With that Eclipse got into the park and headed straight for the Sky Serpent.

The others got back to the train about 11:30. They were all laughing as they talked about how Panda King had gotten the whole clubs attention when he started to combine his Flame Fu with his dancing. To say the least it got him a roaring applause and the attention of some very cute girls, but when they wouldn't leave him alone he scared them with a bit more of the Flame Fu, and by doing it got himself thrown out of the night club. They had left Dimitri at the night club. He had promised them he would come to the Sky Serpent the day they were planning to leave for Spain, and that he would bring his diving equipment.

The week went by relatively quickly after that. Eclipse had gotten the Sky Serpent repaired and upgraded by about noon the next day, and the gang spent the rest of their time in New York touring the city and seeing a few Broadway shows. The biggest part of the trip was the gang had walked on to the filming of an episode of Apprentice. A reality TV show where several contestants were in teams trying to get the dream job of being Donald Trump's apprentice.

That was when Sly got the sneaky idea. He had Bentley do some hacking and find out the challenge. After some looking Bentley found out that the two teams were supposed to try and make the most money off their individual businesses. Each business had to be run out of a trailer that Donald Trump had given to work with. One team was doing a restaurant of sorts while the other had transformed their trailer into a mobile game tournament and had parked outside a local Best Buy store. Bentley also found out that all their money had to be put in a safe secured in each trailer to be counted. Sly checked his watch and saw it was about 4:30. Sly got an evil smile as he quickly broke the group into Bentley, Murray, Panda King, and himself as 1 team, and Eclipse, Carmelita, Penelope, and Destiny.

Sly then told everyone to follow their assigned trailer to where they will be stored, and then to steal the money. He had an evil idea on how to make the Cooper gang infamous again, after being out of the papers for so long. Sly took his group to the trailer that was the mobile gaming tournament while Carmelita led her group to the mobile restaurant. Sly and Carmelita had both been given an electronic tracking device, and were going to plant it somewhere in the trailer.

At the mobile game tournament Sly planted his tracker under the lip of the registration desk which seemed permanently attached to the trailer. At the mobile restaurant Carmelita put her on the side of the window. The gang soon regrouped and headed back to the Sky Serpent. Bentley found out the money would be collected at 6:30 and that the trailers were due back at their secret warehouse at 6:00. When it got to be 5:45 Murray rolled out the getaway van and Sly, Carmelita, Murray, and Eclipse hopped in. Panda King stayed to work on his fire works, Bentley and Penelope wanted to work on their special project, and Destiny stayed to act as the operation coordinator.

The Cooper van pulled up in front of the warehouse at around 6:10. They had twenty minutes before the people hired to collect the money was supposed to get there. Sly, Carmelita, and Eclipse left the van while Murray stayed to keep the engine running and watch out for the collection people. Sly and Carmelita tried all the doors, and after finding them all locked by high tech electric locks they wished they had brought Bentley along. Eclipse just shrugged as he placed his hand on the metal garage door that was on the front of the warehouse. The door shook a second before a normal door sized hole appeared in the middle of it. Eclipse motioned to Sly and Carmelita and the trio went into the garage. It took Sly ten minutes to crack locks on the two safes and they were out and gone 5 minutes before the people came to collect the money, arriving at a warehouse that showed no signs of being entered.

That night the whole gang gathered round the living cars TV to watch. They watched the whole show, catching themselves on the screen once or twice. Then, came the big moment. It was the boardroom scene, and Donald had turned to the two teams and said, "Well, the people I sent to collect the money you earned should be arriving any minute now. Team Pinnacle how do you think you did."

One of the ladies said, "I think we did exceptional Mr. Trump."

Trump nodded his head and turned to the other team as he said, "And team Pyramid, how well did you do?"

A guy smiled as he said, "We think we did fantastic."

Trump nodded his head as two guards with the small safes placed them beside Donald Trump. Trump nodded to the two guys in suits and as they undid the locks on the safes Trump said, "I guess we will soon see?"

Both the teams and Trump jaws dropped as the safes were opened in unison and instead the large pile of money that should have been each their sat a very delicately placed Cooper gang calling card.

Sly nodded at Bentley who returned the nod and pushed a button on his chair. With in a few minutes the secretary who usually sat behind the desk in the board room's lobby came walking in as she said, "Mr. Trump. You have a fax."

Trump took the fax and read it. He then began to chuckle as he said, "Well, though the money is lost we still know who one the challenge."

The teams gave Donald Trump questioning looks as he cleared his voice and read,

**To Donald Trump,**

**As you no doubt know, my gang paid your mobile businesses a visit. We were also happy to make both trailers a bit lighter by empting the safes, but since you need the money to determine which team won I have decided to tell you the amount of money we found in each safe. In Pinnacles safe there was $1,546, 35. In team Pyramids safe we found a cash amount of $1,547. I hope this enough for you to make your final decision. **

**Sincerely, Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang.**

On the bottom of the fax was a picture of Sly and Eclipse standing in front of the mobile business trailers and each holding a bag full of money. Donald Trump turned to the two teams and said, "I guess we will have to trust that the master thief Sly Cooper is telling us the truth. I declare team Pyramid the winner, and Team Pinnacle, I will see you in the board room."

The whole gang was laughing as the teams left the board room and Donald just picked up one of Sly's calling cards and examined it for a second. The show was over, and already they were advertising that Donald Trump would be the Morning Show to talk about the shocking development of having the teams' money stolen during the challenge.


	16. Carmelita’s Family

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 16

Carmelita's Family

By the end of the week, the gang had done everything they could think of. Luckily, it soon came time for their train flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Carmelita's home, Madrid, Spain. Dimitri arrived at the Sky Serpent a little after 10:00, and after getting his stuff moved into his room everyone headed to the operations car for take off while Eclipse went up to the train's engine.

Eclipse went over the PA system and said, "Attention Passengers, we are about to depart, but before we do I would like to say one thing. Hold on because this is Sky Serpent version 2.0, and I am going to open her up and see what she can really do." With that Eclipse turned the PA system off and began the take off sequence. The train was off the ground in record time and was flying past the statue of liberty when Eclipse turned on the PA system again and said, "Attention Passengers. Please ignore the rumbles you are about to hear. It is just the entire train transforming into the Sky Serpents 2nd mode, the race mode." Eclipse turned the PA off and flipped a switch on the engines dash board. Everyone felt the train give a lurch as the hover fans turned off for 5 seconds and switched to their secondary positions underneath the engine and cars. The hover fans kicked back in as the Sky Serpent changed into its race mode with the two jet engines on its side and the mufflers in place of its smoke stack. There was then a second lurch as cars of the train opened up some automatic doors on both sides and two jet engines came out of each car and latched themselves to either side of the train.

Up to that point the Sky Serpent had actually been slowing down, but not anymore. Eclipse pushed the throttle forward till the 70 power position and held on tight to the steering controls as the jet engine kicked in to gear. The train began to accelerate quickly and everyone felt the G's until the train reached its cruising speed.

Eclipse soon came in to the operations car from the engine and coolly smiled as he said, "Well, be happy. At our current flight speed we will reach Madrid in 8 hours. According to the clock and time zone map we will arrive in Madrid at 9:00 in the morning." With that Eclipse went left the operations car. Panda King and Dimitri soon left, planning to get some sleep to reduce the jet lag, and Sly, Bentley, and Murray went to find Eclipse. Since Drag Strip Island, Bentley and Murray have been trying to think of some things they could show Sly to help him remember his times at Happy Campers orphanage. They had tried a lot of things, but Eclipse told them it had to be something somewhat familiar. Something, any item that would be able to latch onto a memory that was still getting through the doors that sealed them away.

Bentley, Sly, and Murray went and got a hold of Eclipse before they went to the living room car. They all took some seats at the table that was in the room and Sly asked, "What is this all about you two?"

Bentley dug something out form under the table as he said, "It's about these two things." Bentley slowly lifted two items from underneath the table. One was a cookie jar and the other was a drawing of something in crayon on a large piece of paper. Eclipse didn't know what these items meant, but he could already feel the door in Sly's mind opening, and grabbed hold of Bentley and Murray and bridged all there minds to Sly's. This trip went a lot quicker the last. Unlike when Carmelita went in, Bentley and Murray didn't feel the need to snoop into any of Sly's memories, because most of them happened when Bentley and/or Murray was near by. With there help Eclipse quickly found the keys to the second memory level door, and freed all of Sly's memories up to the point in his life when he, Bentley, and Murray left Happy Campers Orphanage to become the world class thieves they are today.

After all this, most of the Cooper gang went to bed except for Carmelita, Penelope, and Destiny. The girls decided to stay up for a while and have some time to talk.

The three of them talked mostly talked about the wedding. Destiny and Penelope tried to help Carmelita think of a way to tell her mother and father she was marrying Sly Cooper. After finally settling on the plan to just get Melody and Jason to help her and tell her parents the truth and see what happened. The girls then talked about what the wedding would be like. Carmelita then got Penelope to talk about how things were going with Bentley. She admitted that things were going great, and she hoped that Bentley would get the idea from Sly and Carmelita that it was time he asked Penelope to marry him.

After all this talk about love and marriage Destiny sighed and said, "You two are lucky. I wish I could meet a nice guy and fall in love like you two did."

Carmelita and Penelope eyed each other before Carmelita said, "What are you talking about?"

Penelope added, "Yeah, are you blind or are you just in denial."

Destiny looked at them a second with a confused look before she said, "What are you talking about?"

Carmelita shook her head and said, "We are talking about you and Eclipse."

Destiny blushed slightly as she said, "Oh yeah, in my dreams. I pushed him to far away back on Drag Strip Island for it to ever work between the two of us."

Penelope smacked hand to her forehead as she said, "You are being as dense as a cinder block. I have seen how Eclipse looks at you. I think he is in just as much denial as you are?"

Destiny shook her head and said, "Eclipse has no reason to be in denial. He is a powerful wizard, what does he have to be afraid of?"

Carmelita sighed as she said, "Destiny, Eclipse could be the most powerful mystic in the world, but he is still has his emotions. If you cut him he will bleed, and I think you have unwillingly captured his heart, why else would he trust you with that medallion. It is the key to the temple that used to hold the map to the Pure Magic Gems."

Destiny looked down at the medallion around her neck. She took hold of it with her left hand and said, "Still, what does he have to be afraid of?"

Penelope said, "He has to be afraid you will be scared to death of him again. What if we are all in danger, and the only way he can save us is if he risks a very powerful spell. He is worried that when that time eventually comes that after he uses his most powerful spells you will be terrified of him again."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Yeah, Sly caught up with Eclipse after the incident at the restaurant back on Drag Strip Island. Eclipse could only tell Sly one thing through his tears. And it was, and I quote, "Did you see how she looked at me? She was terrified of me. It was as if I had become a great, evil monster that threatened to devour her.""

Destiny's jaw was agape as she said, "He was that broken up about how I looked."

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "You see Destiny, Eclipse is a guy who doesn't like hurting anyone if he can help it. Imagine such a kind guy finding a nice girl. Then, when she finds out he has magic she looks at him with terrified eyes. It tore his heart up. All he wanted to do is make sure you were alright, and you cowered away from him like he was pointing a gun at you and was about to pull the trigger."

Destiny hung her head and said, "Your right, I didn't have any right to be afraid like I was, but what makes you think Eclipse forgives me for that."

Penelope smiled as she said, "Well I didn't hear him complaining when you kissed him on the cheek back at Dimitri's night club."

Destiny thought back and then realized as she said, "I hadn't even realized I had done that. I was so caught up in the moment I didn't even know what I was doing." Destiny's face turned a bright red as she realized that she had kissed Eclipse with out even noticing it. Carmelita and Penelope continued to convince Destiny to make a move with Eclipse for another few minutes when they all finally decided to go to bed.

The next morning the whole team slept in until about 8:00 when they most of them got up. The only one not up was Dimitri, who was used to partying all night and sleeping till about 1:00 in the afternoon. It took Eclipse dousing Dimitri with a bucket of ice water to get him out of bed. Soon the whole gang was out of bed in their normal clothes and watched out the windows as they flew over the Spanish landscape and Madrid came into view.

Carmelita had called her sister ahead of time, and had gotten her to spray paint a big black X on the dirt in the vacant parking lot beside her show. As they flew over the city, the engine back in its usual flying mode, Eclipse scanned the ground for his landing spot. Finally Dimitri spotted the vacant lot and Eclipse began to move the train into a position to land. The train circled the lot for a few minutes and then Eclipse began to lower the train straight down into the vacant parking lot.

To say the least the racket from the train landing got the attention of Melody and the others in the Spanish Rose flower shop. Melody ran outside with Brigit, Susan, and Kristine on her heels. They watched as the Sky Serpent gently touched down on the ground and the hover fans turned off. A few seconds after the fans turned off the door on the operations car opened and Carmelita stepped out, shielding her eyes from the bright sun shine common to Madrid. She then noticed Melody standing at the edge of the lot and she waved and said, "Hey, what do you think of my ride. Better then any airplane I can tell you."

Carmelita and Melody spent the next few minutes catching up before the others finally left the train. Sly had convinced everyone to give Carmelita a few minutes with her sister before they got into the mix, and Carmelita appreciated it. Carmelita noticed Sly step off the train and she then smiled at her sister and said, "Melody, I would like you to meet the master thief, Sly Cooper, my fiancé."

Sly took Melody's hand and kissed it as Melody said, "I will say this Carmelita. You have picked a very charming and handsome man to be your husband. Jason is supposed to show up later, you will have to stick around long enough to meet him."

Sly smiled as he said, "I think I owe him that much, I am taking his and your baby sister as my wife."

Melody nodded her head and then noticed the others stepping out of the train. She turned back to Carmelita and asked, "So, are you going to introduce me to the rest of these people or do I have to guess their names?"

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "Sure, if I were to go down the line that is Eclipse, Destiny, Murray, Bentley, Penelope, Panda King, and Dimitri."

Melody nodded her head and said, "It nice to meet all of you. If you haven't guessed I am Carmelita's sister Melody. These three behind me are my employees, Brigit, Susan, and Kristine." Brigit nodded her head, Susan smiled and gave a quick wave, and Kristine boxed slightly as Melody said their names. After a few minutes of general talking Melody smiled and said, "Come on, lets get inside the shop, this is no place to get acquainted."

Carmelita shook her head and said, "We won't all fit in the shop. How about you four come in to the Sky Serpent and we'll all sit down in the Operations car." Melody nodded her head in defeat and asked Kristine to go make sure that no one was in the shop before she locked the front door and joined them in the train. Melody awed at the spacious room of the Sky Serpent. After a few minutes Kristine join the group, but she had a tall male fox in a blue business suit with her. The fox had brown hair and black sun glasses covering his eyes. Carmelita smiled and said, "Everyone, looks like my no account brother finally showed up. How are you Jason?"

The male fox smiled as he took his glasses of and showed off his dark blue eyes. He looked around the group and said, "Now Carmelita. I heard tell tale from Melody you were marrying a thief, but which one is he."

Carmelita motioned toward Sly who was sitting at her side. Sly stood up and walked over to Jason and shook his hand as he said, "Hello Jason, I am Sly Cooper. I bet you have heard of me?"

Jason nodded his head and said, "I should say I have. You almost ruined my favorite reality show last week."

Sly smiled as he said, "Oh, do you mean the show called Apprentice."

Jason chuckled as he said, "Do not beat around the bush. Believe it or not my private security company's business would go through the roof if I took you in right now, but I won't, if only for the sake of not seeing my baby sister cry."

Carmelita glared at Jason as she said, "You know I don't like being called your baby sister."

Jason smiled at Carmelita as he said, "Yeah, I know. It is one of the few things I have left to hold over your head anymore." The whole group talked for about three hours. The topics that were talked across the table ranged from simple matters like the weather to more serious matters like what Carmelita wanted Melody and Jason to do at the wedding. It was nearing the end of the conversation when Melody finally brought up the highly avoided topic, "Carmelita, have you thought about how we are going to tell mom and dad about your fiancé."

The room was quite as Carmelita sighed and said, "The only way I could think of is taking you two with me and telling them straight out."

Melody sighed as she said, "That is what I was afraid of, but there isn't any better options are there."

Jason shook his head and said, "The only other option we could offer is just not to tell them, but they would eventually find out and then, Oh Boy, they would rampage through half the country before they got sensible enough to track you two down and get Sly put behind bars for life."

Melody looked around the table as she said, "Well, at least if mom and dad disown us, we have a lot of people to fall back on."

Carmelita, and soon the whole group laughed at the joke. It was getting to be around 5:00 when Brigit, Susan, and Kristine decided to leave. Melody and Jason decided to stay the night with the Cooper gang, Jason in the last spare room they had for the Guru once they went and got him and Melody on the couch in the living car.

Everyone had kind of gone off to do their own things after about 5:30. Murray, Panda King, Bentley, Penelope, and Dimitri had gone to playing cards in the dinning/kitchen car. Sly, Carmelita, Jason, and Melody stayed in the operation car, continuing to think about the wedding and the ever pressing fact of how they should tell Carmelita, Jason, and Melody's parents. Eclipse had retired to his room, but Destiny had kind of hung around the living car. She finished making the bed for Melody, and finally worked up the courage to make her next move.

She walked to the back of the train to the car that had Eclipse's bedroom along side her own. She hesitated a second before she knocked on his door. A few seconds later Eclipse opened door, dressed in his white robes. He looked at Destiny a second before he said, "Do you need something Destiny?"

Destiny nodded her head and said, "Well…I…kind of was wondering. What I am trying to ask is would you mind…"

Eclipse watched Destiny fight to control her own mouth before he smiled and shook his head as he said, "Are you trying to ask me out on a date or something?"

Destiny sighed and said, "Well, there is a movie theater down the block a bit. Would you like to catch a flick or something?"

Eclipse looked sternly at her a second before he said, "Isn't usually the guys job to ask the girl out?"

Destiny smiled weakly and Eclipse chuckled and nodded his head before he said, "Just give me a second." Eclipse closed the door and Destiny waited by the wall. Eclipse emerged from his room a few minutes later dressed in some casual black dress pants and a white button down shirt. He turned to Destiny and said, "First time I have been asked out on a date. The whole thing is a bit backwards."

Destiny smiled as she took Eclipse's arm and asked, "Do you mind it at all?"

Eclipse noticed how close Destiny got to him as she looped her arm around his and they began to walk for the exit door for their sleeping car. He smiled as he said, "Hey, it makes it easier for me when you do the asking. Now, what movie are we going to see?"

Destiny giggled a little bit as she said, "the theater is showing sci-fi romance movie."

Eclipse chuckled as opened the door to the Sky Serpent and said, "You know what, that sounds just perfect." With that they stepped out of the Sky Serpent and headed off to the movies.

Back in the dinning car Bentley, Murray, Penelope, Panda King, and Dimitri were locked in an intense poker game. The one to lose all his poker chips first had to make dinner for the rest of them while they finished the game. As it stood Bentley had won the last three round putting him a fair distance a head of everyone. Everyone else was about equal, with only one or two poker chips difference between them.

Dimitri smiled at his new hand after seeing he had four kings. He quickly chipped in all but a few of his chips. This was enough to get everyone else to back out except Bentley, who had the best poker face of all of them. Dimitri smiled as he said, "Come on bro, if can't play with the big dogs you better just stay on the porch."

Bentley gently reached for his pile of chips and matched Dimitri's bet. He then raised it just enough so Dimitri would have to go all in to stay in. Dimitri smiled as he through the last of his chips in and said, "I got 4 kings bro, try and out do that funky move."

Bentley just nodded his head as he laid down his cards and showed he had a royal flush, the best hand you can have in the game of poker. Dimitri's eyes were wide as Bentley smiled and said, "Well, I am starved. You better go get cooking Dimitri."

Dimitri grumbled a bit, but got up and head over to the other half of the car where the kitchen was. Bentley made everyone's piles of poker chips equal before they continued the game. The next to fall was Murray, who put too much on his last full house. After him Penelope was cleaned out when she got a flush only to be beat out by the Panda King with a royal flush. Dimitri served dinner, a simple grilled cheese and tomato soup meal, as Panda King and Bentley began the final round of play.

They played for 15 more minutes, Bentley slowly gaining an edge on Panda King. It was dark out when Panda King said, "Bentley you have played well, but I think it is time we ended this game. Who so ever wins the next hand is the victor of the whole thing."

Bentley nodded his head and said, "I will take that bet. Deal the cards." Bentley looked at his hand and saw he had a royal flush of the Ace, King, Queen, Jake, and Ten of hearts. He smiled as he said, "Beat this Panda King, a royal flush, my second one of the game."

Panda King looked up from his cards as he said, "Usually, you would be the victor with such a hand, but tonight it seems the fates have decided that neither one of use should win." With the last part Panda King put his hand on the table and showed he had gotten a royal flush as well. This consisting of the Ace, King, Queen, Jake, and Ten of clubs.

Bentley's jaw was hanging before he began to laugh and said, "I guess anything is possible. Good game Panda King."

Bentley offered his hand and the Panda King took it and shook it as he said, "You played honorably and excellently Bentley. It was a pleasure to be equally matched by someone of such a high intelligence."


	17. Meeting the Parents

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 17

Meeting the Parents

On Saturday, Jason and Melody meet the Cooper gang at the Sky Serpent. Murray had just unloaded the van when Melody pulled up in her sports car. She stepped out and walked over to the group. She had gotten dressed in a dark blue summer dress that reached down to her ankles. She took her sunglasses off and knocked on the door to the Sky Serpent's operations car. After a few seconds Sly opened the door and poked his head out. He noticed Melody and smiled as he said, "Glad you could make it. Where is Jason?"

As if on cue Jason pulled up in his big black truck. He quickly turned it off and walked over to where Sly and Melody. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and black T-shirt with big white block letters across the front spelling out, "Security". Sly waited for him to walk over before he said, "So you two, do you mind giving a few people some rides."

Jason nodded his head and said, "Sure, I'll take someone as long as it isn't that Dimitri guy, I can't figure out a thing he is saying sometimes."

Melody nodded her head and said, "The same goes for me."

Sly nodded and said, "Okay, I am riding with Murray, Bentley, Panda King, and Dimitri in the team van. That leaves Eclipse, Destiny, Carmelita and Penelope. So, who wants to take who?"

Melody replied, "How about I take the girls and Eclipse can ride with Jason."

Jason nodded his head and said, "I'll take that."

Sly nodded his head and said, "Wait here a moment. We are almost ready." Sly then went back into the train and hurried everybody up. In fifteen minutes everybody was loaded up and they were all heading to the other side of Madrid to see Mr. and Mrs. Fox, Jason, Melody, and Carmelita's parents.

During the drive the girls talked avidly about Melody and what it was like in Madrid. In the Cooper gang van Sly, Bentley, Murray, Panda King, and Dimitri talked about the latest sports statistics and who was for what teams to win what ever season was going on. In Jason's truck, Eclipse and Jason road in silence for half the trip until Jason broke the silence and said, "Eclipse, can you tell me something."

Eclipse turned and nodded his head. Jason paused a second before he said, "Does it seem Carmelita and Sly are really in love, and I mean REALLY, really in love?"

Eclipse looked forward as they drove through the busy streets. After a few seconds he said, "I am not an expert in anyway of how cupids arrow can fly, but in my opinion they are. Before I contacted Sly about the whole map to the Pure Magic Gems thing I did a little digging in Carmelita's office. It seems that since a year ago, when Sly contracted his amnesia, Carmelita began to ease up. She was usually extremely diligent with her work, now she is still pumping out the same quality work, but now she just seems happier. I think that is because she finally realized her feelings for Sly. Even now, when Sly is trying to regain his memories she is staying beside him, and I think it is for the best."

Jason nodded his head and said, "One more question. How powerful are you as a mystic."

Eclipse raised an eyebrow as he asked, "I am pretty powerful, why?"

Jason sighed as he turned around a street corner and said, "Because it will keep a force of nature to keep my father under control. Carmelita inherited the worst of our fathers temper." Eclipse gave Jason a strange look as they headed out of Madrid and into the country side. Mr. David Fox and Mrs. Martha Fox lived out of the city limits. While Carmelita, Melody, and Jason were growing up they lived in a house in the city. When the three of them moved away David decided that he and Martha should get away from the hustle and bustle of Madrid. They bought a home a little ways out of the city. Close enough that they could get to the city if they needed to, and far enough that it was very quite around their house at night.

The house was a single story, with a white paint job. It had a porch going all around it and a tree just off to one side of the property. They were on top of a hill that gave them beautiful view of the city at night. The only way up to their house was by an old dirt road, and getting the mail was a true hassle.

The group parked their cars in the front yard, and Carmelita told Sly and the others to wait outside while she, Melody, and Jason tried to convince their parents that Sly was an all right guy. Once everybody was out of sight of the front door Carmelita took a big breath and knocked on the door.

After a few second the door opened and older fox appeared in the door. It was Mrs. Martha Fox. She was dressed in a pair of loose blue jeans and a bright blue blouse. Her jet black hair had a few stray grey hairs in it, but she still had a commanding feel about her. Something that came from working in Interpol for most of her life, and still being the best criminal detective in the Spanish division of Interpol.

She quickly smiled as she said, "Why didn't you call us and tell us that all three of you were coming. I would have made dinner plans." Mrs. Fox quickly motioned them into the house and the trio sat down on a couch in the living room while Mrs. Fox got Mr. Fox. After a few minutes they heard the door between the kitchen and living room open and Mr. Fox came into the living room. He was as tall as Panda King, and just as serious. Being the head of the Madrid Interpol office he had a lot of power, and had a very black and white out look on life. He was fairly thin with some lean muscles defining his shape. He perfectly built for chasing down criminals and taking them down with a presser point attack. He noticed the three on couch and moved over to them and kissed Carmelita and Melody on the cheeks and gave Jason a bear hug. He sat down in a recliner on the opposite side of a coffee table that sat in the middle of the room.

In a few minutes Mrs. Fox came into the room asking, "So, what's the occasion. The last time you three were here at the same time with out us calling you was when Carmelita was promoted to Inspector."

Jason chuckled as he said, "Trust us that is small potatoes to the news we have for you today."

Mr. Fox crossed his arms and said, "Really, then tell us already."

Carmelita bit her lip for a second before she quickly spat out, "I am getting married."

It took a second for Mr. and Mrs. Fox to register just what Carmelita had said, but once they did Mrs. Fox squealed like a little girl as she hugged Carmelita tight. Mr. Fox just smiled as he leaned back in his chair and said, "It is about time one of you found someone to spend the rest of your life with. So, who is the lucky guy?"

This was the part Jason, Melody, and Carmelita were worried about. After staying silent for a few minutes Mrs. Fox asked, "Well, are you going to tell us, or will we have to guess?"

Carmelita bit her tongue before she said, "I am marrying…sly cooper."

Mr. Fox leaned forward in his chair as he asked, "Didn't quite hear you Carmelita. Who did you say you were marrying?"

Carmelita finally got up the nerve and said in a slow steady voice, "Sly Cooper, I am going to marry Sly Cooper, and he is right outside with the rest of the Cooper gang."

To say the least Mr. and Mrs. Fox's reactions were as different as night and day. Once the name had escaped Carmelita's lips Mrs. Fox had sit down in a rocking chair trying to process what she had just been told while Mr. Fox's reaction was no where near as calm. He exploded like a volcano and grabbed his shock pistol of the wall and ran outside where he saw the whole Cooper gang standing beside the van talking. Sly was the first to notice Mr. Fox standing at the houses front door, and that was only after he had fired a shock pistol blast.

Sly yelled to scatter and the shock blast the side of the team van. Mr. Fox quickly put Sly back in his sights, but before he could fire Eclipse had pulled out his sword and cut the pistol in half. He then quickly sheathed the sword as he dodged a punch Mr. Fox had thrown at him. Eclipse continued to dodge Mr. Fox's punches as Sly slipped into the house to try and help Carmelita, Jason, and Melody convince Mrs. Fox it was a good idea. While Sly, Carmelita, Jason, and Melody talked over the whole story with Mrs. Fox Eclipse did his best to distract Mr. Fox. That was proving harder then he thought it would be.

Despite his size, Mr. Fox was fast, and Eclipse was having trouble staying ahead of him. Finally getting tired of playing fox and mouse Eclipse split into Lunar and Solar and did his best to subdue Mr. Fox. It was good in theory, but Mr. Fox was also built like a brick wall, and no matter what Solar and Lunar did they couldn't get him down. Finally Mr. Fox caught Lunar by the scruff of his shirt and threw him at Solar. Lunar ran into Solar like a ton of bricks and they continued to fly toward the side of the team van. While they were flying across the yard they rejoined into Eclipse and hit the van hard. Destiny ran over to Eclipse to make sure he was alright while Mr. Fox turned his attention to Panda King and Murray. The Panda King readied himself as he said, "You are strong Mr. Fox, but you shall not best the might of Panda King."

Mr. Fox ran up and they locked hands into a fight of pure strength while they tried to overpower the other. Panda King was about to beat Mr. Fox when he smiled as he said, "You may be the great Panda King, but I have to take people like you down on a daily bases, and I can do it now." With that Mr. Fox quickly too the upper hand in the battle of strength and grabbed Panda King by one arm. He then threw him over his shoulder, making Panda King land hard on the ground.

Murray was next, but he soon met the same fate as the Panda King. Bentley and Penelope quickly raised their hands in defeat, knowing that they didn't stand a chance against Mr. Fox. He was smiling with pride when he remembered he had yet to capture the ring leader, Sly Cooper. He began to look around the yard until he heard the front door open and Mrs. Fox came walking out. Behind her was Carmelita, Jason, Melody, and Sly. Mr. Fox quickly tried to get around his family to get at Sly Cooper, but Mrs. Fox put herself squarely between him and Sly as she said, "David, this is enough."

Mr. Fox looked in horror as he said, "Martha, you are protecting this criminal."

Mrs. Fox nodded her head as she said, "Yes, I am protecting this criminal. What does it matter what he does for a living if he makes our daughter happy?"

Mr. Fox face went red as he yelled, "What difference does it make, it makes all the difference."

Mrs. Fox eyed him a second before she said. "Really, if it makes all the difference then why did you ever marry me, or do you so easily forget that I was once on the wrong side of the law."

Mr. Fox opened his mouth to rebuttal, but nothing came out. He finally dropped his shoulders as Sly's jaw hung low as he asked, "Mrs. Fox, you used to be a thief like me."

Mrs. Fox shook her head as she said, "No Sly. If anything I was worse then you. I used to work with the biggest crime lord in Madrid…as his top sniper."

Sly fell silent, after a few tense moments Mrs. Fox broke the silence as she said, "but that isn't important now. We aren't talking about my past mistakes. We are talking about Carmelita's future."

Mr. Fox sighed as he said, "I think I owe some of you an apology."

Panda King groaned as he finally got up and said, "Consider yourself forgiven. I know what it is like when you wish to protect your children from what you believe isn't good for them."

Eclipse shook his head and said, "Yeah, I had a guess you would react like this, but you are a much better fighter then I thought you were."

Mr. Fox smiled as he said, "You better believe it. Now, let's all go inside the house and talk about this wedding. I am willing to give you one chance Cooper, you blow it and the offer will not represent itself."

The Foxes and the Cooper gang spent the remainder of the day talking over everything that had happened, and it all went pretty well except for one thing. During the conversation they got to talking about Sly's old heist and Eclipse realized that they had their chance to unlock the last of Sly's memories. Eclipse used the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He was able to unlock Sly's memories, but when he delved into Sly's open mind he took Carmelita, Mr. and Mrs. Fox with him. Mr. and Mrs. Fox got to see for themselves just what Sly was like. While Eclipse searched for the keys to the memory door Mr. and Mrs. Fox used some of the memories stored in the 3rd level to see what Sly was like.

After their excursion into Sly's mind, they had to agree. He did love Carmelita, and from what they saw she loved him. They also saw that he was as he said. He was a thief, not a criminal, but a master thief who came from a long line of thieves. The Cooper gang returned to the Sky Serpent late that night, but not before Mr. and Mrs. Fox gave Carmelita their blessings and permission for the wedding.


	18. The Wedding

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 18

The Wedding

With the help of the rest of the Fox family, the wedding was soon ready. Melody was in charge of planning the wedding, getting the caterer and the photographer. She also was personally providing the flowers for the wedding, her wedding present to Sly and Carmelita. Jason called in a favor with one of his friends and was able to get one of the most beautiful churches in Madrid. Bentley and Penelope handled the invitations. Carmelita had them invite some of her closest friends from Interpol, while Sly had them invite some of the more honorable thieves he had meet as he traveled the world.

Dimitri's part in the wedding preparations was finding a band to play at the reception. Panda King and Destiny were put in charge of the preparing the reception. They had decorated the reception hall, and Carmelita and Sly felt that the Panda King should work toward his strength and decorate in a Chinese temple theme. The last thing the group need was someone to perform the ceremonies, but that was proving difficult. It was now a week before the wedding and they still hadn't found someone certified to preside over the wedding and make them official man and wife.

With time running short and the wedding going to be that Saturday Eclipse decided to try something. With out a word he went to Madrid's city hall and found out if they new anyone certified to preside over the wedding. They told him that many of the governments and church officials were out of town at a conference in another part of the country. Eclipse quickly explained the situation to them, and as luck would have it, the city could give him a temporary license as a favor to Mr. and Mrs. Fox if he passed the city's certification test. They were offering it the day before the wedding, and not again till a few months later.

While the others spent the remainder of the week preparing and practicing for the wedding Eclipse crammed on everything he would need to know to pass the test. Finally, the big day came for Eclipse's test, and everybody met outside City Hall in anticipation. Eclipse went in around 8:00 am, leaving everybody outside, hoping he could pass the test because they could never find someone else on such short notice.

As they waited outside Panda King and Bentley paced in front of the benches where they were sitting. Sly was jiggling his leg up and down trying to get rid of some of his anxious energy. Carmelita looked calm, but if you were to touch her she might accidentally pull out her shock pistol and give you a jolt. Penelope was keeping herself busy by tinkering with one of her RC cars while Dimitri watched her fiddle with the many tiny circuits. Destiny just sat patiently, hoping that Eclipse would just do his best.

It was 11:00 when Eclipse finally came out of City Hall. He was hanging his head, and everybody feared the worst when he cracked a wide smile and held up the paper that gave him the legal right to perform the wedding between Sly and Carmelita. With that final piece of the puzzle in place the stage was set for the wedding of the century.

The next day, Sly's nerves were at a high. He paced in the room in the church he was supposed to wait in. He began to doubt himself, then he thought about what his ancestors would think, and then he thought about jumping out the window and rail walking across the rope on the outside of the window to the other side of the street and make a run for it. He was about to have a nervous breakdown when Dimitri came into the room, and told him they were ready.

The church was decorated in a combination of blue and white roses. The blue roses were Eclipse's handy work because he was the one who turned half of the white roses blue with a quick spell. On the left side of the room sat Carmelita's family and colleges, most of which were waiting till after the wedding to go over to the right side of the church and arrest a few people. That was due to the fact that some of the most honorable thieves that Sly, Bentley, and Murray had meet over the years were sitting on the right side, looking completely calm in the presence of so many cops.

Sly waited at the alter with Eclipse who was holding a bible. On the left side of the room stood Sly's grooms men. They were Panda King, Dimitri, Jason, and Bentley. Sly's heart began thumping when he heard the organ begin to play, and he saw the bride's maids coming down the aisle. Carmelita had chosen Destiny, Penelope, Melody, and Melody's employee Brigit to be her bride's maids. They were all dressed in dark blue dresses that matched the blue roses they were carrying. The four girls lined up on the right side of the room. Next came the ring bearer and flower girl. They were both small foxes, the children of some distant part of Carmelita's family, but they were the only ones they could find in time.

Finally Sly held his breath as the whole room turned around and saw Carmelita coming down the aisle. She was dressed in a beautiful white wedding dress that was once Mrs. Fox's wedding dress. Mr. Fox led her down the aisle, and then smiled one more time at Sly before he let her go and sat down beside Mrs. Fox. The organ music stopped and everybody fell silent as Carmelita and Sly went up to the alter.

Eclipse cleared his throat and said, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this fox of the law with this theivius raccoon in holy matrimony. If any among us has any reason that these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace?"

Eclipse looked across the room and saw that there was no movement in the room. He then cleared his throat continued with the ceremony. Thirty minutes later Eclipse smiled at Sly and Carmelita and then turned to Carmelita and asked, "Carmelita, do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold till death do you part?"

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "I do."

Eclipse nodded and then turned to Sly and asked, "Sly, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold till death do you part?"

Sly nodded, his anxiety long since past, and said, "I do."

Eclipse smiled and said, "Then by the power invested in me by the city of Madrid and the country of Spain I pronounce you husband and wife, and you may now kiss the bride."

With that Sly gently lifted Carmelita's veil, and they slowly went in for one loving kiss as the whole room exploded with clapping, crying, and cheers. Sly and Carmelita stopped kissing and they went down the aisle heading for the limo where Murray was waiting to drive them to the reception.

The line of cars stretched for several blocks as everybody that was in the church headed for the rented reception hall. There were Chinese lanterns hung from everywhere on the ceiling, and the whole thing looked like a Chinese reception party, exactly what Carmelita and Sly were hoping for.

The reception went off with out a hitch, and Eclipse presented Sly a very special gift. One of the mystic arts Eclipse knew was called Shaman Magic. Involving summoning spirits from the other side and allowing them to inhabit an item or person. While Sly and Carmelita were cutting the wedding cake Eclipse slipped off onto the stage. Destiny had set up the spirit ritual on the stage for Eclipse, and when it came for the part of the reception where Sly was to dance with Mrs. Fox and Carmelita would have usually danced with Sly's father Eclipse tapped on a microphone on the stage and said, "I hate to interrupt, but at this time I would like to present Sly with my wedding gift." Eclipse knelt down on the stage and the designs on the stage began to glow. Ten flames appeared in mid air and circled the ritual.

Then, in a flash of light there were now two figures on the stage. One was Eclipse, who was lost in a deep trance, and the other was dressed in clothes much like Sly's thieving clothes, and holding a pipe. Sly's eyes began to water as the light dimmed away and he saw his father standing on the stage. Destiny walked over to Sly and said, "Now Sly, this is only for tonight. It takes a huge amount of magical energy and concentration for Eclipse to keep him and give him a form of body. He will be able to keep your father bound to this world till midnight. That is when his magic will be spent, and he will have to return your father to where he came from."

Sly was speechless as his father walked down of the stage, and stood right in front of him. Sly's father just stood their and smiled at him before he brought him into a warm embrace as Sly began to cry. Everyone in the reception hall was silent for 5 minutes until Sly dried his eyes and said, "Now here I am crying at my wedding reception. This is supposed to be a joyous time, and I believe I was about to share a dance with Mrs. Fox. Dad, would you mind leading my wife, Carmelita onto the dance floor."

Sly's father nodded his head as he took Carmelita's hand, and Sly took Mrs. Fox's. They led them onto the dance floor and shared one dance. After that the party kicked off, Sly was having a grand time telling his father about what he had stolen over the years. His father was the proudest guy in the world when he heard Sly had defeated Clockwerk not

once, but twice.

The night went by in a blur, Sly's father must have flattered every girl in the room, and when Sly asked him about it he said, "You got to remember Sly, I have a few hours to live it up again. Now, where is the nearest museum? I feel the need to steal something."

Sly's father was true to his word, and he went to the nearest museum to steal a small sapphire. Sly had come into the museum a different way, and had been able to watch his father work. Technology had changed since his father's time, but he quickly examined every obstacle in his way and went through it with out a hitch. That was until he was about to leave and he stepped on a pressure sensitive pad. The place suddenly lit up with alarms and the security guards soon had him surrounded. Sly quickly used a smoke bomb and swung down. He grabbed his father and they were both out of there and back to the reception before they were even missed. Sly's father was examining the sapphire as he thought about how he had almost been caught. Sly's father realized just how out of shape he was at the whole thieving deal, and how great of master thief his son had become. He gently slid the sapphire into a pretty snow leopard's pocket, who everybody else knew was Destiny, and continued to enjoy the party.

It all came too early when the clock in the hall began to strike midnight. Sly's father turned to Sly quickly as he said, "I am sorry Sly, but I have to leave you again, but remember this. You have done so much with your life, and some thing I and even our ancestors would have never dreamed of. You were to first to actually earn the right to have the Thievius Raccoonus, the first to defeat clockwork, not only once but twice, and the first of the Cooper line to have to assault the Cooper family vault and succeed. You have easily become the greatest member of the Cooper line, and you have even found someone to share the rest of your life with. I am proud of you Sly Cooper, my son, and my better as a thief."

With that Sly's father began to fade slightly as Eclipse began to come out of his trance which is how he had sustained Sly's father in the mortal plane of existence. Sly thanked his father one more time before a bright flash appeared where his father was, and he was gone. Eclipse slumped over on the stage. Destiny ran up to him, and picked him up. Eclipse stirred a bit before he opened his eyes and said, "So, how did my present go over?"

Destiny just motioned toward Sly who was standing beside Carmelita, looking where his father had been standing, a smile on his face and a tear in his eye. Eclipse nodded as Destiny helped him to his feet. As Destiny helped Eclipse get down to the dance floor the band began to play a slow number and many of the people began to dance. Destiny wanted more then anything to dance with Eclipse, but she knew that he was in no state to do anything but sleep. She was about to turn them away from the dance floor when Eclipse used the last of his energy to stand straight up, turn to Destiny and say, "Destiny, could I interest you in one dance? I would hate to have been at this reception the whole time and not even share one dance with you."

Eclipse and Destiny had their one dance, and soon after Destiny got Eclipse out to Murray's van and the second Eclipse was lying down inside the van he was asleep, resting after the huge spell he had just cast. Destiny smiled at him as she put her hands in her pockets and felt a lump. She took it out and saw it was a very beautiful sapphire, and then she looked down at Eclipse. She then gently put the precious stone back in her pocket and gently kissed Eclipse on the lips before she turned and went back inside to enjoy the last part of the reception. The reception went for about another hour when the last of the party goers left. The Cooper gang headed back to the Sky Serpent to enjoy a bit of sleep and a relaxing day after the wedding none, especially Sly, would forget.


	19. Guru

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

**Note from the Author: I have appreciated the steady stream of reviews from people like Heiduska, heistmaster, and Otritzi who have review most of my chapters. I also would like to thank those who reviewed, but only once or twice. I now am offering this special deal. Anybody who sends me a review of this chapter will get a special gift from me. The reviews need to be of at least some lenght, and have some more meaning then update soon. Now, I am proud to present my favorite chapter, Chatper 19 of Sly and the Pure Magic Gems.**

Chapter 19  
Guru

The team left Madrid the next day, planning to come back and see the Fox family after they rounded up the last member of the Cooper gang, Guru. Murray was very excited to see his old master again, and he began to tell story after story about the dream time master. Eclipse, finally getting annoyed with Murray's constant stream of stories, took him by the shoulder and said, "Murray, I hate to stop you before you could start your 15th story, but I have something for you to do."

Murray gave a puzzled look as he asked, "What do you need Eclipse."

Eclipse smiled as he led Murray back to the train's garage car. Eclipse walked Murray up to his baby, the team's getaway van, and said, "I need you to make some modifications to this van."

Murray got a surprised look on his face as he said, "What, you want me to change my baby. What for?"

Eclipse just smiled as he said, "Oh, why don't we keep that a surprise, but that is beside the point. It will be a great help to the van. I have already changed the composition of the metal to be a very dense, but light weight metal. All I need you to do is add one mechanism to the van. A little thing Bentley and I whipped up. A mix of two thirds magic, one third technology." Eclipse then turned slightly and pointed to a small square device that was sitting on one of the work benches.

Murray walked over and picked the device up as he said, "There are only two wires coming out of it. How much can it do with only two wires?"

Eclipse just smiled as he said, "Trust me, this will be worth it. Now, all you need to do is install it somewhere within the engine block and make sure it is attached to the battery. All it needs is power, and the magic in the device can do the rest."

Murray shrugged as he said, "Alright, I don't see what this will be good for, but I guess you would know. I mean, you designed this great train. It isn't as good as my van, but it is a close second."

Eclipse nodded as he said, "Thanks Murray, this is a real big help. Now, don't take to long with it. We will be nearing Australia in a few hours."

Murray nodded as he popped the van's hood and began to search for a nice corner of the engine to attach the new device to. Eclipse left the garage car and walked back up to the front where everybody, except Destiny, was enjoying a late lunch. When he walked in on the group he asked, "Hey, where is Destiny?"

With out a word, Dimitri pointed to the front of the train, and Eclipse nodded his head in understanding. He walked around the packed table and through the doors. He walked through the living car and the operations car to the engine, where he saw Destiny sitting in the driver seat, looking at the many controls. She turned when she heard the door open, and blushed a little being caught. Eclipse walked up beside her and asked, "What are you doing up here?"

Destiny shrugged as she said, "Just looking at the train, and think about how cool it would be to know how to fly it."

Eclipse smiled as he shook his head and said, "Dear, if you wanted to know, you should have asked. Here, we are about two hours away from the Australian. That is plenty of time to teach you the basics. By the way, have you been practicing with your water element magic?"

Destiny nodded as she said, "I do a little before be each night. I can say I was able to raise the all the water out of a pan. Then, I lost my concentration and it all fell back down and splashed all over my room."

Eclipse chuckled, remembering the night before. They had been in flight yesterday morning, and he could remember hearing her yell with surprise. He was tempted to go and check on her, but had decided against it. Eclipse brought himself back to reality, and began to show Destiny how to fly the Sky Serpent. She picked up the basics quickly, and by the time they reached the Australian shore line she was ready to give it a try. Eclipse turned the auto-pilot off, and away she went.

According to the flight plan, they would head south east for about an hour before turning east to reach the heart of the Australian outback. Eclipse watched Destiny as they flew, and they were almost at their destination when something went wrong. Eclipse suddenly felt a strange surge of mystic energy, and a ball of black energy hurtled by the window. Eclipse opened the window, and looked down on the ground to see a shadowy figure launching the dark magic at them. The magic held a hint of the dream time, but Eclipse brushed it off as he told Destiny to try and set the train down.

Destiny dodged the magic equivalent to cannon balls for a few minutes as she lowered the train slowly out of the sky. Just before they were going to touch down, a bolt hit the engine and drained the train's batteries. The train stopped working in an instant, and fell the last foot with a loud thump. The train continued to skid along the rough train for another few yards, finally coming to a stop about 25 yards away from the attacker. Sly and Eclipse were the first out of the train, with the rest of the gang right behind them.

The group looked as the dust cleared, and they saw a surprising sight. It was Guru, but something was wrong. His moon stone, which usually glowed with a purple light, was glowing with a red energy. Also, the Guru had a mask on his face that resembled the long destroyed Mask of Dark Earth. Eclipse looked at the mask closely as he said, "I was worried this would happen. After Murray had finished his training and left for the stock van races, Guru was alone again. This time, it didn't work to well with him, and he lost his power over the dream time. This left him open for this to happen. That mask on his face is the twin of the Mask of Dark Earth. It is the Mask of Dark Sky, the two masks encompassing all the evil on land and air."

Murray was in shock as he said, "Master, don't you remember me?"

Everyone was in shock when Guru chuckled and said, "I am sorry, but your master is long gone you fat blob of flesh. The only one in control is me, the Mask of Dark Sky. Now, I shall do what I have wanted to do for so long. I will destroy the people responsible for the destruction of my brother, the Mask of Dark Earth."

With that the mask used Guru's body and began to launch a barrage of dark lighting bolts. Eclipse used his magic to block the bolts and protect Destiny, Bentley, and Penelope while the others skillfully dodged the lighting bolts. While this was going on Bentley asked, "Why is the mask talking about the Mask of Dark Earth like it was a person."

Eclipse blocked a bolt with his hand as he said, "It is because they used to be people. Both the Mask of Dark Sky and Earth were once living beings, and masters of the dream time. That was until they began to use the powers of the dream time for evil, and they began to corrupt the beautiful world of dreams. That is where nightmares originated. The dream time spirits were so appalled that they used there great power to turn the brothers into the masks. They then sealed them away, the seals being bound together by magic. When one was broken, the other would stop working soon after. When you, Sly, and Murray first meet up with the Guru, the seal on the Mask of Dark Earth had just been broken, and it was released. After you left Australia to recruit more people, the Mask of Dark Sky was awakened."

Bentley nodded as he said, "How are we supposed to beat it then. We can't get close enough to Guru to take the mask off."

Eclipse sighed as he said, "The sky mask is the more powerful of the two, and can't be destroyed with the same means. Are only hope is to remove the mask and then break the magical seal on the inside of the mask. It is what binds the soul and power of the brother to it, and when it is gone the mask will have no power."

Eclipse blocked another bolt as he finished, and then saw that the mask had stopped. Guru's hand fell limp as it said, "Well, it seems I have someone here who knows the story of my creation. The only person who would know that is the guardian of the Pure Magic Gems. Well, I am truly honored, and enraged at the same time. Your ancestor help the dream time spirits lock me into this terrible existence. Well, I think its time I returned the favor."

The mask began to glow as it lifted off of Guru's face, and lunged at Eclipse. It had happened so fast, that the mask was already on his face when he realized what had happened. He could already feel that mask taking control, so with his last effort he did the only thing he could, he split in two.

Now, Lunar was standing there with the Mask of Dark Side on his face while Solar was standing in front of Destiny, Penelope, and Bentley. The rest of the gang soon crowded around him. They were ready to fight when Lunar raised his arm up and with one gentle snap of his fingers sent everybody but Solar and Destiny flying. Solar stared at the mask with hate in his eyes while Lunar seemed to stare into space, his mind complete taken over by the mask. Solar heard the mask laugh as it said, "Yes, this feels so good. You are easily stronger then the guardian that helped the dream time spirits so long ago. I will make good use of your body, but I think I would like it to be complete. So, will you surrender yourself and rejoin with your darker side, or will I have to take you back by force."

Solar growled as he pulled his sword off his sheath and said, "I know of the evil you are capable of, and no one in the world would be safe. I will not fall prey to you, but will free my other half from your dark control."

The mask just moved a bit in a mock of a smile as it said, "How can you defeat yourself, especially when I am making Lunar twice as powerful." With that Lunar charged at Solar, and Solar soon followed suit. They clashed blades, and the sword fight began. He hated to admit it, but Lunar was stronger then he used to be. As the fight went on, Lunar was able to strike Solar a few times with light slashes of his sword, but eventually Solar began to tire, and Lunar gained the upper hand.

While the fight continued, Murray was trying to wake Guru up. Eventually, the old dreamtime master woke up, completely back to normal. He sat up and gave his old apprentice a hug as he mumbled something, as he always did.

Murray nodded his head as he said, "It is good to see you too, but the hello's will have to wait. You have to help Solar get the Mask of Dark Sky of Lunar."

Guru looked over at the fight. He suddenly felt an emotion he was pretty unfamiliar with, being a kind and gentle dream time master. He felt anger, and he was up off the ground in a second as he mumbled something. Murray was in aw as he said, "You want me to help you remove the mask. Master, it would be my honor." Guru nodded as he ran toward the fight that was raging between Lunar and Solar, Murray following right behind him.

The fight between Lunar and Solar wasn't looking good. Solar now had multiple light cuts all over his body and a few deeper ones. The blood was beginning to stain his fur, but he kept on fighting. The fight was so intense that the mask didn't notice Murray and Guru run behind him. With Guru's directions, Murray and the old dream time master prepared a blast of mystical dream time energy. Like the Mask of Dark Earth, the Mask of Dark Sky had a fatal weakness. All that held it onto someone's head was the two weak knots where a string was tied to the mask. Guru and Murray waited for the perfect moment before they both released a blast of dream time magic, Guru's being at least three times as large as Murray's.

Lunar felt the magic go by his head, and the mask flew high in the sky, its only means of being kept on someone's head destroyed. In an instant Lunar and Solar formed back into Eclipse, and he was soon surrounded with the rest of the Cooper gang. The Mask of Dark Sky flew high in the sky before it used its wind magic to shout, "YOU FOULS. ALL I NEED IS TO DESTROY YOU AND MY REVENGE WILL BE COMPLETE. WITH THE GUARDIAN WEAKENED, IT WILL BE ALL TOO EASY TO RUB YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH."

The mask flew a little higher as it began to glow a dark black. Eclipse knew what was coming, a blast of power from the polar opposite of the dream time, the nightmare time. The only option before Eclipse was to block the attack, but he didn't have the strength to stand up. He eyes widened as the mask prepared to launch its attack. He then did the only thing he could. He used his sword to cut open his hand. He then took the sword in the wounded hand and waited for the blood to trickled down the blade. As the Mask of Dark Sky released its attack, Eclipse drove the sword into the ground as he shouted, "Barrier of Blood."

In an instant a dome like barrier covered the group. The sword and Eclipse's blood were glowing, but the Mask of Dark Sky knew that this was a temporary barrier at best. As Eclipse lost blood trying to keep the barrier up, he would begin to weaken. Finally, he would pass out from blood loss and the barrier would be down. Eclipse knew this fact to, and quickly turned his head toward Guru and said, "Guru, you must prepare a massive blast of dream time energy, one big enough to destroy the mask. I can hold the barrier up for a while, but when the barrier goes down you have to be ready to destroy that cursed thing." Eclipse then turned back to the mask and with a voice that could shake the earth he yelled, "EVIL CREATURE, YOU SHALL NOT HAUNT THIS EARTH, AND YOU SHALL NOT PASS THE LINE DRAWN WITH MY BLOOD."

Guru mumbled something quickly before he sat down on the dirt, cross legged and began to meditate. Murray soon joined him as did the Panda King. The three meditated for a bit before they each extended one hand forward and a ball of energy began to form. While the blast was being prepared, Eclipse could already feel the effects of the Barrier of Blood. It was drawing blood out of his body at an accelerated rate, and he was already feeling light headed.

A few minutes later, Eclipse began to sway as his vision blurred. Destiny was kneeling beside him, and was beginning to worry. She then made a dangerous move. She reached out for the sword and cut her own hand open on the sharp blade. She then placed her hand over Eclipse's on the hilt of the sword, and began to help him keep the barrier up.

The Mask of Dark Sky was growing impatient. The barrier should have fallen by now. The mask decided to risk getting closer, and it was the last mistake the spirit of the mask would ever make. The second he was close enough Eclipse pulled his sword out of the ground lowering the barrier of blood. The mask was blasted by the dream time energy of one dream time master, one dream time apprentice, and a very powerful firework artist. The mask was toast in a few second, the spirit being utterly destroyed. The gang rejoiced for a second before they heard Destiny yelling at them. Eclipse had passed out, and his heart beat was beginning to slow down.

Eclipse slept for a day and a half before he woke up. When he woke up, he sat up in his bed and looked around his room. Had the whole thing been nothing more then a dream? He looked down, and he instantly knew it had all happened. On his hand was a bandage. He stood up and looked out the window, expecting to see the Australian outback. Instead, he saw an endless ocean in the dark of night. He shook his head as he checked the clock on the end table, it read 9:00 PM. Eclipse was soon dressed in his normal white robes and walking down the hall. He came into the living car to see most of the gang sitting on the couch or other chairs watching a movie. They all turned their heads when he came in, and Sly said, "It is good to see your still with use Eclipse."

Eclipse nodded his head as he asked, "How long have I been out?"

Bentley turned his head as he said, "A day and a half. You slept the remainder of yesterday and all day today, we were wondering if we should take you to a doctor, but I guess that won't be necessary after all."

Eclipse nodded as he looked around the group. There were three people missing from the group, Guru, Panda King, and Destiny. Eclipse turned toward Sly and asked, "Where is everybody else?"

Sly scratched his chin a second before he said, "Well, I know Guru and Panda King are both in their rooms meditating, but do you know were Destiny is Carmelita."

Carmelita nodded her head as she said, "I saw her going up to the front of the train a few minutes ago."

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Thanks Carmelita." He then quickly went up through the operations car to the engine, but Destiny was nowhere to be seen. He then heard someone humming up on the roof of the train. He gently opened the window and found the train was going much slower then it's maximum. He took a firm grip of the ladder on the side of the car and slowly climbed up to the top of the train. When he was high enough to see over the train's roof, he saw Destiny sitting on a set of chairs that folded into the train's roof. A little something he had added for when someone might want to catch a tan while not leaving the train.

Eclipse gently got up onto the trains roof, using a little of his newly rejuvenated magic to keep his footing. Destiny and the pair of chairs were facing away, so Eclipse silently walked up behind Destiny. She was gently humming a song that Eclipse knew. He paused and listened as she finished the song. He then gently cleared his throat, making Destiny turned around in the seat and saw him standing there. She smiled, relieved that Eclipse was alright. She then turned back around as Eclipse took the seat next to her. They looked up into the starry night for a few seconds before he asked, "So, how long have you been up here?"

Destiny shrugged as she said, "Only a few minutes. How are you feeling?"

Eclipse looked into the clear night sky as he said, "Much better. Hey, what was the song you were just humming? I know I have heard it somewhere."

Destiny blushed a little bit as she said, "Oh that, it's one of my favorites, but I haven't heard it in years. Nothing that romantic is on the radio anymore."

Eclipse smiled as he placed his hand on her and said, "I assume you know the words still."

Destiny nodded her head and said, "Yes, but it a duet. I couldn't sing it by myself."

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "You won't, but let's get some background going." Eclipse raised his hand up and several strings of light flowed from his finger tips. The several dozen strings of light flowed in front of them, flying along with the train. They soon began to bend and twist, each light becoming a musical instrument made of only magic. Destiny was in aw until she saw Eclipse's hands moving in a beat, and the instruments followed it until he snapped his fingers. The instruments began to play, and Destiny closed her eyes. She loved this song so much, having been a girl who loved fairy tales of love. The song had a long prelude before anybody was supposed to sing. The music continued to warm up, easing its way to the place where someone, namely a guy, was supposed to sing. Destiny sighed, wishing she could hear the song sang properly, when she heard Eclipse take a deep breath.

On cue with the music, Eclipse began to sing:

_Look at the sky tell me what do you see  
Just close your eyes and describe it to me   
The heavens are sparkling with starlight tonight  
That's what I see through your eyes_

Destiny was amazed; Eclipse's voice was so gentle, smooth, and beautiful. He sang perfectly with the music. The music suddenly stopped, and Eclipse looked over to her. Destiny soon got the idea, and joined in on the duet. Eclipse snapped his fingers again, the music began to play again, but this time Destiny sang

_  
I see the heavens each time that you smile  
I hear your heartbeat just go on for miles  
And suddenly I know my life is worth while  
That's what I see through your eyes_

The pair paused a second, turning their heads so they could look into each others eyes. The song become apparent Eclipse and Destiny continued to look deep into each others eyes as they sang together:

_That's what I see through your eyes_

_Here in the night I see the sun  
Here in the dark our two hearts are one  
It's out of our hands _

_We can't stop what we have begun  
And love just took me by surprise, looking through your eyes_

They held the last note for a while, and then both stopped for a brief second. Eclipse took both of Destiny's hands in his before they both sang:

_I see a night I wish could last forever  
I see a world we're meant to see together  
And it is so much more than I remember  
_

Eclipse sang:_ More than I remember  
_

Destiny sang:_ More than I have known  
_

Both sang:_ Here in the night, I see the sun  
Here in the dark, our two hearts are one  
Its out of our hands, we can't stop what we have begun  
And love just took me by surprise, looking through your eyes  
_

The music played for a second before Eclipse and Destiny smiled at each other warmly and sang:

_Looking through your eyes_

Before they knew it they were leaning closer together, and as the last part of the song played, and the magical instruments faded away Eclipse and Destiny shared one loving kiss under the wide patchwork of stars. Two shooting stars crossed the sky, and both Destiny and Eclipse made a mental wish. Destiny wished that they could stay together all their lives. Eclipse just wished that he could be free of his family's job. It was both a curse and a gift, and as long as he was the guardian he could never be with Destiny.

As the pair spent the night in bliss, the train slowly chugged toward their destination, Madrid. They were going to stop there for a day before making the final drive to seek out the map to, and the Pure Magic Gems themselves.


	20. Clockwerk Reborn

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 20

Clockwerk Reborn

A few days after their return to Madrid, the gang got everything they needed loaded into the Sky Serpent. Eclipse once again headed into the engine while the now completed Cooper Gang got belted into the operations car for take off. Outside the train Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, Melody, and Jason stood a few yards away, watching. As the train took off Mr. Fox leaned over to Mrs. Fox and whispered, "Did we get the tracer planted."

Mrs. Fox nodded her head and said, "Yes, as soon as they are over the ocean will take a pair of Interpol copters and follow them. They may be able to do it alone, but incase they need us we will be there." Mr. and Mrs. Fox turned back and watched as the Sky Serpent, the team's base and transportation flew out of sight. Unfortunatly, Eclipse had seen the Fox's place the tracer, and after they were out of Madrid he removed it from the train's interior.

Once the train was over the ocean Eclipse shifted into its speed mode. He then headed back into the operations car and took a seat as Bentley warmed up the slide show projector. Bentley then wheeled in front of Sly, Carmelita, Murray, Panda King, Penelope, Dimitri, Guru, Eclipse and Destiny.

Bentley cleared his throat and said, "All right people, we are currently on course for the island that once contained the Cooper family vault. The Metal Owl Clan has complete transformed the island's landscape, and upgraded its security. The island now looks like a volcano with out the lava. It has steep sides a few feet in from the shore line. It goes up few thousand feet and then levels off. It then dips down into it self and creates a lowered basin. They have changed the landscape like this because it is required by the magic of the Pure Magic Gems if they want to bring Clockwerk back to life. The outer wall that surrounds the island is comparable to the modern day walls of Troy. There is a force field protecting the island from everything that comes from the air. This is the messy part of the operation. We basically need the whole gang to help Sly get up the walk way that leads to the top of the mountain. Destiny will be in here, coordinating the details of the plan. Panda King, Penelope, and I will man the long range firework turrets to help fend off the clans larger and more dangerous members. Murray, Guru, Eclipse, and Carmelita will accompany Sly up the mountain, helping to fight his way to this building. It contains the controls for the islands force field. If you can shut the barrier off, we can bring the Sky Serpent in and help with the attack. Once we have met up we'll head up to the top of the mountain."

Sly gave Bentley a questioning look as he said, "This isn't our usual style Bentley. What's up?"

Bentley sighed as he said, "Unfortunately, while we were in Madrid the Metal Owl Clan decrypted the ancient language on the map to the Pure Magic Gems. They have already collected the gems, and if my intelligence can be trusted, they are planning to resurrect Clockwerk in a few days, once all the member have gotten to the island. We will get there tomorrow night, and we have to do it then. We also have to make this operation quick, if we don't someone might be able to make the wish on the Pure Magic Stones and they will resurrect Clockwerk, bigger and more destructive then ever. Now, to continue, once we have the stones we will make a brake for it. If we are short on time, we will just steal the 5th stone of the Pure Magic Gems. It is the unison gem, and the ritual is useless with out it. If we were just to steal on of the other four, they might still be able to resurrect Clockwerk."

Sly nodded his head and said, "All right guys, we have a lot to prepare before we get to the island. Lets get to work."

The whole trip the gang prepared everything they would need. Penelope used the mars probe software she and Bentley had been developing to give her radio control helicopter some artificial intelligence, enough for it to fly by itself and attack some thugs with its drop claw. Bentley and Eclipse gave the Sky Serpent a complete once over, double checking that everything was in position. Destiny set up a command center that would allow her to keep an eye on everybody with relative ease. Carmelita gave her shock pistol a complete cleaning and upgrade, giving it enough kick to knock someone out for a day. Hopefully it would be enough to get through Clockwerk's armor. Panda King prepared the firework turrets and Dimitri got out his old laser fire ring. He even got Bentley to fix it so it wouldn't back fire after every three shots. Guru meditated the whole trip, and before anybody knew it, they were coming up on the island.

The island's exterior wall came into view, and everybody got into place as Eclipse slowed the Sky Serpent down for their approach. Once they were within range Destiny took the train's controls while Eclipse, Sly, Carmelita, Dimitri, Guru, and Murray got ready. Bentley wheeled up to the front of the operation car where Panda King had set up an extremely large firework. They came within 100 yards of the walls when Destiny turned the train hard and came to a stop. Once the train's broad side was facing the wall Bentley lit the firework and it went flying into the islands walls where it exploded and left a huge hole.

Eclipse created a path of water that was extremely dense, and Sly lead the attack team onto the islands shores. Destiny quickly increased the train's hover fan speed making it raise above the defense walls. Once the Metal Owl Clan members were within range Panda King, Penelope, and Bentley unloaded on them, knocking many of them out with the Sky Serpents firework turrets. The few guards that got threw the rain of fireworks were quickly taken out as Sly and Carmelita who lead the attack team up the mountain side. Sly was knocking guards with his cane while Carmelita covered his back with her shock pistol. Eclipse had pulled his sword out and filled it with energy. He was now using it as a long wipe. With it, he knocked the attackers out with a crack of the magic whip. Guru possessed one of the biggest guards and used him to help Eclipse keep the guards back. Dimitri and Murray worked as a team, Dimitri taking care of any guards with pistols with his laser ring while Murray brawled his way through the many cloaked figures.

The reached the top of the mountain side, and saw it dipped down into a huge basin. In the center a small shrine stood, and several Metal Owl Clan members were rushing toward the shrine. Eclipse pointed as he yelled, "We have to hurry. They are trying to resurrect Clockwerk before we can stop them."

The gang rushed down the side of the mountain, and began running full sprint toward the shrine, but before they could get there a loud sound, like a bomb exploding came from the shrine, and a dark figure shot out of the shrine roof, making the whole thing collapse in on itself. The shadow formed a small ball in the sky, and then began to spill out. Soon, Sly could recognize the silhouette of his enemy, Clockwerk.

The shadow began to recede, leaving behind shining metal. Finally, the shadow disappeared and it revealed the face of Clockwerk. The power of the pure magic gems had increased Clockwerk's already immense size. He was three times as big as he was when Sly beat him the first time. He hung in the air for a few seconds as the fire in his eyes slowly relit itself, and he began to flap his huge wings, creating a huge gust of wind. His head swiveled around a bit before he spotted Sly and said in his cold mechanical voice, "Sly Cooper, you will meet your end at the claws of Clockwerk."

Clockwerk readied to swoop down when a barrage of fireworks came out of nowhere. Everybody spun around to see the Sky Serpent charging over the landscape. Destiny stopped it right beside Sly and the others. Bentley popped his head out of the window before he said, "Hurry Sly, Carmelita, all of you. We have to get away. We can't fight Clockwerk like this."

Eclipse shook his head as he said, "Yes we can. Bentley, have you finished the special project I asked you and Penelope to work on?"

Bentley nodded his head and said, "Yes, but we still need a power source."

Eclipse just shook his head as he said, "Just do it Bentley. I will handle it."

Bentley looked around the group a second before he said, "Fine, but hurry. Everybody get to your sleeping cars. We are launching emergency program, "Sky Warrior"".

Everybody piled in except Eclipse who turned and began to look Clockwerk down. When everybody got to their rooms they saw a chair had appeared for each person who used the room. They all sat down in the chairs while Bentley wheeled up to the engine and typed a few things on a computer. Soon, they all felt the train lurch. Eclipse, which was still outside the train, held up his sword and yelled, "Clockwerk, we make our stand here."

With that the Sky Serpent separated into its individual cars and each car began to fly high into the sky. All the cars disappeared into the some cloud cover and Clockwerk was thoroughly confused until a large object came crashing down from the sky. From inside the train the entire Cooper gang was sitting in a command room of sorts, all the chairs facing a large front window. They realized that they were standing at eye level to Clockwerk, but it was Murray who said, "OH MY GOSH, WE HAVE A GIANT FIGHTING ROBOT. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, THIS SO BEATS MY VAN."

It was true, with Eclipse's designs and Bentley's programming genius they had made the Sky Serpent able to transform into a giant fighting robot. The operation's car and living car attached themselves to the sides of the engine. The engine tops opened up and an attachment platform came out. The dinning car and one of the bed cars became the left leg. Two other bedroom cars formed the right leg. The last two bedroom cars attached to each side to become most of the arm while the garage car the housed the Cooper gang van split in half and became the rest of the left and right arm. Finally, Murray's van transformed, because of the little magic device Eclipse had Murray install, into the robots head and attached to the top, completing the robot.

The robot stood motionless as Clockwerk looked down this new enemy. Clockwerk then chuckled as he said, "I must admit Cooper, that is impressive, but I am not going to fear a transformed hover train, especially when it doesn't have enough energy to even move." Clockwerk was about to laugh when he noticed Eclipse was glowing. Eclipse then began to float and he entered into the robots power core in a few seconds. His feet rested on two electrodes while his hands grasped two others. The robot then came to life as Eclipse used his magic to power the great metal titan.

Clockwerk then knew he needed to get serious, and he lunged at the robot with his claws ready. Sly, who had been put in charge of the simple movement control, got the train to dodge to the left. Murray and Panda King controlled the left and right arms which they used to grab hold of Clockwerk as he went by. Carmelita, who was in charge of the trains vast arsenal of fireworks and lasers fired a laser beam through the pointer finger on the right hand, blowing a hole in Clockwerk's wing. Bentley, Penelope, Guru, Destiny, and Dimitri, who monitored the many functions of the robot, watched on their independent monitoring screens as Clockwerk went flying into the side of the cliff walls, a decent sized hole in his wing.

They were about to cheer when they saw the hole in Clockwerk's wing heal up, and he turned and laughed evilly. He then turned to the robot as he walked on the ground and said, "You fouls, I have the Pure Magic Gems. As long as I have them, I am truly immortal. Nothing you can do can destroy me, or even harm me for long.

Bentley chuckled as he said, "We prepared for the Pure Magic Gems magic. Sly, press the button on the far left labeled "Cane".

Sly did as he was told, and in a few seconds a cane of pure magic materialized in the robots right hand. It was a cane exactly like Sly's if it were to be blown up to those titanic proportions. Murray quickly grabbed Clockwerk's wing while Panda King swung down the robots right arm. They left a deep gash in Clockwerk's wing, and Clockwerk had to hobble back.

They continued to deal some damage to Clockwerk. It went in the pattern of them catching up to him, Murray grabbing hold of him while Panda King slashed at him with the giant energy cane. They were about to win when Clockwerk got a lucky shot in with one of his wing mounted cannons, and hit them right in the power core. With their power distribution system damage the robot lost power, and fell back. Bentley quickly disengaged the team van and it transformed back to its usual form. Murray quickly took the wheel and got them clear of the falling robot.

Murray wheeled around and drove back to the robot. They gang piled out while Clockwerk tried to take off to get away long enough to let his wounds heal. He had just taken off and was about to get free of the island when he struck something and came crashing down. The gang began to look around and Panda King saw Eclipse standing beside the fallen robot. He had used his magic to bloke Clockwerk's escape. The whole gang ran over and Destiny got close to Eclipse before she asked, "Eclipse, are you alright?"

Eclipse nodded his head as he limped out toward Clockwerk. The others stayed put and watched at he got further away. Suddenly he stopped, turned around and said, "Why are you still here? You must leave now."

Sly shook his head and said, "No way, we aren't leaving you to fight Clockwerk alone."

Eclipse sighed as he said, "You must understand, I am the only one who can harm him while he has the Pure Magic Gems. There is nothing you can do."

Panda King shook his head and said, "No, if I have learned anything from Sly Cooper, it is that there is always something you can do."

Murray nodded his head and said, "Yeah, we aren't leaving anybody behind."

Eclipse sighed and said, "You don't understand."

Carmelita shook her head and said, "No, you don't understand."

Dimitri nodded his head and said, "Yeah cool wolf dude. Nobody here, not even me, will leave you to that coo coo Clockwerk."

Penelope nodded her head in agreement. Eclipse was touched by the gangs will, but he just shook his head and said, "I am sorry my friends, but this is something I must do."

Eclipse turned to leave, but Destiny ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. She held tight to him as she said, "Please Eclipse, don't go alone. I don't know what I would do if you got hurt."

Eclipse sighed and a tear went down his face as he said, "I am sorry Destiny. I wish it could be different, but it was predicted that sooner or later the guardian would have to face the Pure Magic Gems. I have to destroy the gems, and to do that it will take the ultimate sacrifice."

Destiny let go of Eclipse in shock as she said in a barely audible whisper, "No."

Eclipse let one more tear stream down his face before he quickly spun around and used his magic to teleport Sly, Carmelita, Destiny, and everybody else to the edge of the mountain top basin, to far away to even have a hope of reaching him in time.


	21. Battle of the Titans

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self._

Chapter 21

Battle of the Titans

Clockwerk looked across the field. He knew that to be able to escape he would have to defeat this lone wolf, which didn't seem to hard until he felt the magic that began to pulsate from the wolf's body. Eclipse's fur began to float as the energy began to build up. With out warning a lighting bolt came down from the sky and almost struck him, but he didn't move a muscle. After a while He opened his eyes and as he looked Clockwerk down he said in his loud deep voice, "By the will of the guardian of the Pure Magic Gems, I say that the world shall never see your evil face again. Be warned Clockwerk, you will only leave this island over my dead body. CAGE OF THE SOUL."

Eclipse glowed with a low white light, and a tiny orb left his body and disappeared. In an instant a cage of light sprang up, capturing Clockwerk and Eclipse inside the mountain's basin, and locking Carmelita, Destiny, and the others out. Sly, on the other hand, jumped in the second before the barrier had been created. He ran across the field to where Eclipse was standing. Eclipse had just pulled his sword out began to charge it with energy when he noticed Sly running up behind him. He quickly spun around and shouted, "What are you doing here?"

Sly stopped and tightened his grip on his cane as he said, "Clockwerk is my family's enemy. It doesn't feel right leaving him to you."

Eclipse growled a bit, and then mentally knew that Sly was now trapped in the cage of the soul with him and Clockwerk. He had to fight now. Eclipse turned to Sly and said, "All right, you want to fight, then you'll get to fight." Eclipse began to glow as he sat down on the ground cross-legged. Sly suddednly felt a strange energy began to surge through his body. Before he knew it, he was floating through the city that was he own mind, a scene Eclipse had seen three times, each an attempt to unlock the master thief's memories. Sly through the building that housed his memories, going up level by level until he stood in front of the door to the fourth level. Eclipse had told Sly about the fact the last level held no memories, and contained something within that Eclipse didn't even know about.

As Sly looked at the door, it began to open. A steady light began to flow through it. On the inside the room was brightly lit, but only one thing stood in the room. It floated a few inches above the pedestal in the center of the room. It was a cane, like Sly's in shape but it seemed to be made entirely of some strange metal. Sly walked up to it, and read the inscription underneath it. "For Emergencies. When facing an enemy fight with the power of the entire family. Fight with all their strength, speed, and determination. When you fight like that, nothing can defeat you. "

Sly looked at the cane, and then gently reached out and touched it. In an instant he was flung back to reality where he was still staring down Clockwerk, who was desperately trying to escape the cage of the soul. Sly looked down and saw he was covered in a mystic glow. Once the glow faded he saw he was dressed something like what a knight of medieval Europe would wear. Sly recognized it as the armor of his medieval knight ancestor. He looked down at his cane and saw it had transformed into the cane he had just touched. He turned to ask Eclipse what was going on, but the only thing he could say is, "You cane contains the strength of your ancestors, and it will only last a short while. Make it last." With that Eclipse mumbled something and Sly felt some knew kind of Mystic energy flow through him. The world suddenly felt like it was getting small, but in reality he was getting bigger. Soon, he was as big as Clockwerk and at eye level with his old rival.

Clockwerk turned when he felt a wave of magic flow over him. He turned in time to see Sly start running toward him with the cane of the entire Cooper line. Clockwerk tried to dodge the attack, but Sly was able to clip his wing. Clockwerk went sprawling onto the ground, his ability to fly compromised. He stood and glared at Cooper as he said, "So, the great Sly Cooper has to rely on a worn out mystic wolf to help him fight, pathetic."

Sly shook his head as he said, "Your wrong Clockwerk. One, Eclipse is now a member of my gang, and a good friend. I would accept his help any day. Second, he just helped me get to your eye level you old hunk of metal. The power that embodies this armor and this cane is that of all my ancestors."

Clockwerk shook his head as he said, "It doesn't matter, THE COOPER LINE WILL END WITH YOU." As Clockwerk said the last part he charged at Sly with his wing mounted cannons firing several bursts. Sly dodge the cannon blasts and was able to put a whole in Clockwerk's other wing. Clockwerk spun around, and tried to slash trough the armor protecting Sly's chest, but he didn't even make a scratch. Sly quickly punched Clockwerk in the gut, forcing him to back off.

The battle ragged, and Clockwerk was nearly defeated when the cane Sly was wielding began to lose power. He heard Eclipse project his voice into Sly's head as he said, "Sly, you must destroy him now. Strike him in the heart, the Pure Magic Gems are buried in his dark heart, and once you destroy them he will be defeated." Sly gripped his cane tightly as he charge at Clockwerk for the final time. Clockwerk soon did the same, and they clashed in the middle of the battle scared area. In that instant there were two sounds. One was the sound of metal being torn to pieces. The other, was the sound of gems stones cracking and then breaking into thousands of shards. In that instant, Clockwerk turned to dust, and the fight was over.

The cage of the soul disappeared, and Sly shrank down to his normal size. The armor disappeared, and his cane returned to normal. It all seemed okay. Carmelita ran up to him and threw her arms around him while Destiny ran past them to check on Eclipse who had collapsed. Sly and Carmelita were so happy everything had turned out all right, until they heard Destiny call out. Sly and Carmelita quickly turned and ran over to where she was, knelt over Eclipse's limp body. His heart had stopped, and so had his breathing. Destiny quickly began to try the only thing she could, she tried to revive the mystic wolf.

In a distant place Eclipse floated in a void of blackness. He knew he was dead, he had to be. He had to give up his soul to produce the cage of the soul. Once the battle was over, his soul was released. He felt himself cry as he floated in the darkness. He hated leaving Destiny alone in the world, but there was nothing to be done. He was already dead. Suddenly, a bright light shown in one direction. Eclipse then saw a shadow get in the light, and began to move toward him. He recognized the figure in an instance, it was the walking skeleton known as the grim reaper.

The grim reaper walked up to Eclipse, and then said, "Greetings guardian of the gems. It seems you have brought one of my more troublesome souls back to the dead."

Eclipse chuckled as he said, "Yeah, Clockwerk was a challenge, but it is my job to prevent the Pure Magic Gems from being misused."

The Grim Reaper shook his head as he said, "No, it was your job. Now, it is nobody's for you have destroyed the Pure Magic Gems."

Eclipse nodded his head as he said, "I guess your right. So, you going to take me away to the world of death, or let me float here."

Death pointed his scythe away in the darkness that surrounded them, and suddenly Eclipse could here a woman crying. He turned his head and saw Destiny desperately trying to revive him as tears streamed down her face. Death then turned his skull of a head toward Eclipse and said, "Your family has lived with the burden of the Pure Magic Gems since they were forged, and you have carried the responsibility well. Now, I am giving you a choice. You may return to the land of the living, or you can go to the land of the dead."

Eclipse looked at the Grim Reaper with surprise as he said, "Why are you offering me my life."

The Grim Reaper smiled as he said, "Because Sly Cooper's father beat me in a game of cards last night, and the bet was that if I was to lose, I had to offer you a second chance at life. Not only for your own sake, but for hers."

Eclipse looked at the image of Destiny a second as he said, "I don't want to leave her yet. I hate to see her cry like that. I would like to return to the land of the living." The Grim Reaper nodded as he muttered something and Eclipse suddenly felt like he had been tossed like a bag of potatoes into the image of Destiny trying to revive him."

After a few more times attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Eclipse coughed a bit as he spat up some blood. Destiny moved back to his head and gently tipped it up. She set his head on her lap and Eclipser began to breathe normally. His eyes stayed close, but he coughed a bit before he said, "Who is there?"

Destiny let out one more sigh of relief before she said, "Don't worry, you'll be all right."

Eclipse smiled slightly as he said, "Destiny, I wish I could see your face right now."

Destiny chuckled as she said, "Just open your eyes silly."

Eclipse did, but a he said nothing for a few minutes before he said, "I had forgotten just how beautiful you are. I guess you have to come close to losing what you hold dear before you truly appreciate it."

Destiny nodded as she ran her hand through Eclipses hair. She smiled as she said, "To think, a few months ago I would never guessed I would be on top of a mountain, a wizard's head on my lap, and I be the happiest I have ever been."

Eclipse just chuckled as he said, "It is the strange way of fate and time. Many believe that they are like rivers, running onward with out change. Time may be like that, but fate is changed with almost every decision we make. Tell me, do you think you have made the right decisions in your life time."

Destiny nodded her head and said, "The day I faced my fears enough to stay with you, I made the best decision of my life."

Eclipse smiled before his exhaustion took hold and he fell asleep in Destiny's arm. Destiny and Carmelita bandaged Eclipse's wounds while Sly and the others repaired the Sky Serpent. Luckily, they were able to get it flight worthy in about an hour with the help of Bentley's mechanical shortcuts that would allow them to continue the repairs in mid air. Panda King carried Eclipse onto the train, and soon they were all leaving. Just as they were past the islands shore line Eclipse woke up and told them to wait. Destiny stopped the train and turned it so the broad side of the train faced the island. Eclipse faced the window from the couch and then turned to Sly and said, "Now, it is about time I rendered payment for your help with the Pure Magic Gems. Watch the island."

Eclipse held his hand up and his eyes began glow as he used the last of his energy to turn back time on the island. They saw the island get enclosed in a bright sphere of light. The light dimmed, brightened, and changed color. At the end the sphere began to melt away from the top of the dome that had enclosed the island. Sly's jaw dropped as he saw the island had been returned to the way it was before Dr. M had set up shop and begun his efforts to crack the Cooper vault. Eclipse smiled as he said, "Now, I am officially beat. Wake me up in a week." With that Eclipse shut his eyes and was almost immediately asleep.


	22. Epilogue

_Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self.___

__  
Chapter 22

Epilogue

After getting Eclipse some medical attention and getting the Sky Serpent repaired the Cooper gang, which now included Carmelita, Destiny, and even Eclipse, headed back to the island so that everyone could see the splendor of the Cooper Family vault. After a complete search of the vault Sly found two finally pages to the Thievius Raccoonus. The first described his fathers addition to the great thieving book, the laser slid. The last page was a complete family tree of the Cooper family. Sly showed everyone each one of his ancestors, and then as a special gift from Sly to everyone, he presented each member of the gang one very special treasure from the vault.

He gave Carmelita a necklace which had been stolen from a British museum by his father. Panda King got some very high grade gun powder that had been stolen by Sly's Chinese ancestor. Murray got his pick of the many thieving vehicles that were contain in the inner sanctum of the Cooper vault. Bentley found a old computer that dated back to before the first computer, and found it was faster then most modern day computers being it was made of magic and technology that was in perfect balance. Guru found a sun stone that interacted perfectly with his moon stone, increasing his mastery of the dream time. Dimitri found a very nice ring that went well with his laser ring, and could even act as an enhancing jewel for the laser ring's laser blasts. Penelope found an old RC miniature pirate ship from one of Sly's more modern ancestors, and it actually had working cannons.

As a gift to Destiny and Eclipse, Sly offered them the choice of several jewels. Destiny looked upon the chest, but Eclipse gently bent down and picked up a very beautiful, but proportioned ring. He then held it out to Destiny before he smiled and said, "I hope you don't mind if I don't go down onto one knee. I am still pretty sore from that battle with Clockwerk."

Destiny took a second to process what Eclipse had said, but when she realized he had just asked her to marry him she took the ring, put it on her ring finger, and then wrapped her arms around Eclipse's neck and kissed him gently on the lips. Eclipse grunted a little under Destiny's weight as he said, "Be careful, I just said I was still sore."

Destiny just giggled as she kissed Eclipse one last time before she got down. They spent a few days relaxing in the Cooper vault, but then it struck Sly that he now had a choice. He would either have to return to his job at Interpol, or pick up his career as a master thief, putting him and Carmelita on opposite sides of the law. Sly couldn't decide what to do, but luckily for him he didn't have to.

The day when everybody was getting back onto the Sky Serpent with their trinkets Sly looked around and noticed Carmelita wasn't any where to be seen. He got onto the train and headed for his and Carmelita's bedroom on the train, thinking to find her stuff all gone. Instead, he found that Eclipse and Destiny were waiting in his bedroom, and they both had big smiled on their faces. When they noticed Sly come in Eclipse said, "Sly, we were wondering when you would get here. Carmelita has a present for you."

Sly sighed as he said, "What did she leave me. A set of hand cuffs and the promise she would see me behind bars one day."

Eclipse shook his head and said, "Nope, Destiny and I were just looking over this paperwork she gave us. Do you remember when Destiny joined the team, and how she gave us a bunch of applications."

Sly nodded his head and turned to Destiny who said, "Well, if we read these papers right it says that a certain fox is looking to become an apprentice to a true master thief, and she will only settle for the best. Do you think we have room for an apprentice on the Sky Serpent?"

Eclipse nodded his head and said, "I do believe we have room. She has been staying with us for quite a while now; we just need to get her a good thieving costume."

Destiny chuckled and pointed to behind Sly and said, "Do you mean one like the one she is wearing right now."

Sly turned around and saw Carmelita standing behind him. She was dressed in some tight black pants and a blue shirt like Sly's. She had blue gloves on and her hair was back in its characteristic style. She had a black strip covering her eyes like Sly's, and as a final touch she was holding a cane exactly like Sly's except for its head was a silvery color. Sly was at a loss for words when Carmelita walked up and said, "So, do you want me to call you my teacher, or can you still be my husband."

Sly just smiled and winked a thank you to Eclipse and Destiny as he and Carmelita began discussing her training. Eclipse and Destiny left them alone and headed for their own room, which Eclipse had just finished transforming from two rooms into one like Sly and Carmelita's. The train continued to fly across the ocean, taking this team of 10 on to new adventures, and good times. Or, should I say a team of 11, after Carmelita told Sly he was going to have himself an heir to the Cooper line.

The End


End file.
